A New Begining
by monkeey76
Summary: A different take when Damon hears of Elena's choice to forget him. He asks Alaric to compel him to get rid of these feelings for Elena. He meets a women that will change his world forever. But there are always people trying to stop Damon's happiness for coming true.
1. Chapter 1-Starting Over

_**Chapter 1**_

So, I have spent months with Bonnie and Kai, trying to find my way back; to my brother. To Elena. But when I finally get back home, Bonnie had to give up her life so I could go home. My brother gave up on me. And last be not least, my best friend compelled my beautiful girlfriend to forget she ever loved me. And that's not all; she doesn't even want to remember me! Yeah. I spent 4 months with a judgy little witch (who I started to like, but I will never tell a soul) losing hope of ever finding my way back to Elena. When I came back, I never thought I would want to die all over again. Hearing that she is happy, not knowing what we had, happy with another man. I never thought my heart could break all over again.

But I know what I can do, to make the pain go away. I know what you're thinking. No, I'm not turning off my humanity. I need to be here for Stefan, Alaric, Enzo, and Bonnie. I owe her my life and I'm not going to take it for granted.

"Hey Alaric. We need to talk."

"Yeah, I know. Look I really thought that Elena would want to remember you. You can kick my ass. I deserve it."

"I'm not here about that. I want you to compel me. To forget I loved Elena."

"WHAT! You're not even going to fight for her?!"

"Ric, I need you to understand this. I spent 145 years waiting for a woman that didn't even care about me. Then I stuck around for three years watching the girl I loved with my brother. Helping them get back together. I haven't really lived. I have always been a love sick puppy. I don't want that anymore. Please just do this for me. You OWE me."

"Fine! When do you want to do this?"

"When I get back, I need to say something to Elena first." I walked out the door towards Elena's door and knocked on it.

"Who is it?"

"Guess."

"What do you want Damon? I'm not going to change my mind. You can't make me. I'm happy now." Those words were knives to my heart. She's happy; but not with me. Happy that she doesn't remember what we had.

"I know you are. I'm not going to try and convince you. I just need to say something to your face. I've wanted to say this for the last four months. Just let me say it so I can move on."

"You're not trying to change my mind? You're just gonna give up? Everyone told me that you tried to be with me, that you were in love with me. You never were, were you? You were using me-"

"ELENA! Shut up. That's not it. Yes, I spent three years pining after you, helping you with Stefan, and I did love you. I still do. I came here because I need to say this. So, please open the door so I can talk to you." I heard her going towards the door and unlock it. The door slowly opened to revelled those beautiful brown eyes I have wanted to see for months. She looked so different, her hair is curlier, longer, and those beautiful brown orbs hold no to love for me, but for someone else.

"What did you want to say?"

"Ok, first. Don't run away again. Just let me say this ok?" She looked uneasy but nodded anyways. "Thank you. I love you. I will always love you. Thank you for picking me over Stefan for the first time. Thank you for loving me, at some point. Thank you for always trying to see the good in me, even when I already gave up. I will never forget what it is like to be loved by you. You made 169 years of pain seem worthwhile, just to see you smile. You loving me made me feel worthy to be loved. Even when, I tried so hard to keep you away from me. When I didn't believe you loved me. Thank you. You are the best thing that has ever happened to me. I'm going to miss you so much." It was almost impossible to keep me from touching her. But, if I did. What I'm about to do would be so much harder to do.

"Why are you telling me this? Where are you going?"

"I'm not going anywhere. Stefan needs me, Alaric needs to learn how to control and I need to find Enzo. I'm telling you this because: I will never get the chance to tell you this again. Not really. I asked Alaric to make me forget that I ever loved you."

"Oh. But your memories? Won't they change?"

"No. I'm going to make Alaric compel me to believe that I only loved you because of Katherine. That you were a replacement of her. That I let her die because I thought I could make you just like her, but only love me. That when I came back to life, I couldn't lie to myself anymore. I wanted to be free of Katherine"

"Was I just a replacement?"

"If you were, I wouldn't need Alaric to make me believe it know would I? God, I do love you. Please remember that, even when I can't."

"I will. Good luck."

"Thanks, Good luck with Liam. Don't put him through a weird love triangle, it's not fun. Trust me" I walked away before she could say anything. Walking to Alaric's classroom.

Every step I took I could feel myself regretting my choice, but I also felt a bit of relief. For the first time in a long time, I was doing something for me. Not Elena, not Stefan. Me. It felt good.

"So what do you want me to do?"

"Tell me that Elena was just a replacement for Katherine. That I thought I could make Elena just like Katherine. That when I died I wanted to be free of Katherine. I wanted to be free."

"Alright, you're sure about this?"

"I'm sure I need to do this."

"Got it, I called Stefan. He's bringing Enzo here."

"Why did you tell them?"

"They should know." Shortly after Alaric was done talking Stefan and Enzo came bursting through the door.

"What the hell is wrong with you? Why is everyone trying to forget their love for everyone? Think about it Damon. Are you really going to give up? What in the world could possibly make you think this is a good idea? Well? Answer me!"

"Stefan I don't expect you to understand. You can hit me, threaten me, but you aren't going to change my mind. You know what it is like to be loved by her. You know how hard it is to know that she doesn't love you anymore. But at least you guys fell out of love. Moved on. I don't think I can, because we didn't fall out of love. She erased me from her memory, after what I had done for her. I worshiped the ground she walked on and she doesn't even like me. I can't live like that Stefan. My flip is so close to turning on all the way, just so I have a reason to kill myself. Because if I see her kiss Liam I'm going to rip my heart out. I'm doing this for you, for Elena, for me. Just don't try and stop me. There is only so much I can take before I break."

"What do you mean your flip is almost all the way? Has your flip not been all the way on since you've came back?"

"Stefan, my flip has never been all the way."

"What emotion are you hiding?"

"You'll never know. Alaric do it."

"OK, but first you have to answer all our questions first." Stefan and Enzo held me down so I couldn't escape.

"No! Stop!" I yelled

"Damon, stop fighting me! You want me to make you forget about Elena then, we want answers."

"Well, I don't want any answer. I'm just tagging along. I know most of your secrets anyway mate." Enzo said, holding my arm tightly.

Suddenly the door burst open revealing the one, the only, Blondie…

"What the hell Da-." She just stared at us, trying to figure out what was happening.

"What are you guys doing?"

"Caroline," Alaric walked over to stand in front of her. "What are you doing here?"

"Elena told me what Damon was going to do and freaked out a little. She thought he didn't love her, since her was giving up so easily. That what we told her was all a lie. So, I was going to come here and kick Damon's ass." She didn't take her eyes off me the whole time she was taking. "So, what are you guys doing?"

"I'm going to compel Damon to think what he had was because of Katherine. But, we wanted answers first."

"Ok? So why are they holding him down? Just compel him to relax."

"I would, but he's resisting the compulsion."

"You can do that?"

"If you have enough willpower, yeah. Stefan did it, your dad. I'm not that surprise that Damon can to."

"But he couldn't do it the first time when Kol compelled him to kill Jeremy."

"That," I said "was different. You want me to tell you all my dirty little secrets. If Jeremy died by my hand, I would have still gotten the hunter's curse. Besides, I had nothing then. Why fight."

"I want in." Caroline said

"What?" Alaric and I said at the same time.

"I want to see what makes him the way he is."

"What? Are you going to invite the whole Scooby gang to hear too?" I was still trying to break free. I really should have eaten more.

"No, just Elena. Maybe seeing what you've done for her will make her want to remember. Wait for me, I'm going to get Elena." With that she walked out of the room. Even if Elena decided to remember me, I don't think I could trust her anymore. I understand why she did it, but it doesn't make it any better. If it were the other way around, I would have never stopped looking. I wouldn't try and settle down. I would kill myself. But I would never forget my love for her. It's not the best way to honour the person you love. Is it?

Suddenly there was a sharp sting in my neck. _Vervain. _They must be planning to enter my mind when I'm unconscious.

Damn it

Everything went black and felt myself fall in with it

~No one's P.O.V but Damon~

As the vervain made Damon limp in their arms, Alaric was trying to get into Damon's mind. Even unconscious, Damon was still fighting. Caroline and Elena walked in seeing Damon sleeping. Elena already knew what was going on, she knew that Caroline thought this would make her want her memories back. But it won't. She's happy without Damon. Why don't they see that?

"Hey guys," Alaric addressed the group "I need your help. He's still fighting me. If all of us try and get into his head at the same time then we can all see and it will make this a lot easier."

A lot of "Yeahs" and "Sures" were said. Everyone was curious what made Damon tick. Only one among them thought this was pointless. He is still a monster, no matter what. He killed Jeremy, infront of her, for no reason. Nothing could make herself forgive him.

"Alright then. Ready?" The all nodded and dove in. They could feel themselves getting sucked into Damon's mind and memories.

They seemed to be at the old Salvatore Mansion for some reason. Suddenly a young boy came up to them dressed in 1800s clothes.

"What are you doing here?" the little boy asked

"Damon?" Stefan crouched down to his level

"Hi Stefan. Why are you here?" the young Damon asked.

"My friends and I wanted to see some stuff."

"What did you want to see? I can help you find it."

"What happened to mother?" Stefan asked

"I'll show you." The young Damon took Stefan's hand and lends him to one of the doors and opened it.

Inside, a woman with dark raven hair was sitting down on a couch with two little boys and was reading them a story; when Giuseppe came in.

"Boys go to bed." His voice was slightly slurred indicating that he was drunk "I need to speak with your mother." Damon said goodnight to his mother and took 3 year old Stefan up to his bedroom and tucked him in. He went to his room and when to bed and was about to fall asleep when he heard crying. He got out of bed and followed the sound and found his mother crying with blood on her.

"Mother? Mother what's wrong?" She looked up at him and grabbed his hand.

"Damon, could you please get me some rope please?"

"Of course mother." Damon went to the stables to get the rope for his mother. He didn't know why she needed it but he would do as he was told. When he returned with a long piece of rope he saw her drinking some of father's precious bourbon. "Here you go mother." He handed her the rope and she took it gratefully.

"Thank you Damon. Now I want you to remember this Damon. Take care of your brother. He needs you."

"I will mother I promise."

"Good." She took off a ring on her finger and handed it to Damon. "I want you to give that to the woman you want to spend your life with. This is more important to me than my own wedding ring. A man I once knew gave this ring to me. He made it for me so he could propose with it. I said yes but he grew ill before we could marry. I have never taken this ring off. Now you have it and don't give to the first woman you see. Wait for the right time."

"Mother, you're scaring me. Are you ill?"

"No, I'm not ill. I just wanted you to have it. Go back to bed Damon."

"Are you sure you're alright?"

"I am. I love you Damon. Goodnight"

"Love you too mother." He hugged her tight like it was the last time. He didn't know that it was.

Stefan couldn't speak; he didn't know what he just saw. "What happened next?" He asked little Damon.

"She used the rope to hang herself. I found her body. We told everyone that it was a disease. I didn't want you to know. I didn't know why she did it for a long time but I figured it out. He use to beat her all the time. She could handle herself, but that night. He went too far. He raped her. While we were sleeping." the little boy spoke so quietly that they almost didn't hear him.

"Why didn't you ever tell me?" There wasn't a dry eye in the room. Everyone felt for the little boy.

"You only had one parent left, you looked up to him. I couldn't take that away from you. Your childhood. Every time you looked at him, it was with love and respect. If you knew, then every time you looked at him that's all you would see."

"But that's what you saw everyday. Why didn't you try and do something?"

"I couldn't. No one would have believed me. Even if I did say something and he was sent to jail, we would have been separated. Then who would have taken care of you? I was going to avenge her. It's one of the reasons I wanted to give you an eternity of misery. You got to kill him. I didn't."

"It wasn't about Katherine or making you turn?"

"That was part of it, I just realized when I turned that you got everything you wanted without trying. You didn't get hurt. I did. I was mad. Your life was, is, so easy compared to mine. I always had been. I think that's why you couldn't control the bloodlust. I never taught you how to defend yourself, I always took care of it, or Lexi."

"What happened after that?"

"Father would drink too much and think I was mother and beat me. He tried to beat you a couple of times but I would break something so he wouldn't get to you."

"Why didn't I know?"

"You did. 'I fell out of a tree.' 'Some guys got into a fight and I stopped them.' 'I fell down the stairs.' Sound familiar? Go threw the doors to see some more memories if you want. Just skip the childhood, it's not pretty." Little Damon disappeared into thin air. Leaving the five alone.

After a while Enzo spoke up, breaking the silence. "Let's go down memory lane shall we?" Seemingly unaffected by the news.

"Did you know?" Stefan asked Enzo

"I knew Damon was abused as a child, but he never told me. Abused children can tell if you had a happy childhood or not. Now I want to go into this room." Enzo opened a random door.

Damon was lying on a bed throwing a ball up whilst Klaus watched

"You know none of this would be an issue if you had just done your job properly, I was perfectly willing to let you train Jeremy." Klaus scolded Damon.

"No, you weren't. You showed up day two. Do you know how hard it is to get these Xbox brains to focused?"

"Then when I turned a room of bar files into vampires, you let Kol kill them." Klaus reminded

"Your brother problem, not mine buddy." He continued to throw the ball up into the air

"And whose bright idea was it to gift Jeremy with a conscience?"

"Couldn't have him trying to stake Elena in her sleep could we?"

"Ah yes, the lovely Elena. Now how is it that she manages to look overlook every horrific thing you've done?" This caught Elena's attention. She was curious what possession her to forgive Damon so many times. "Is it wilful ignorance or is a bit more pathological?"

"Some people are just more forgiving than others, bet you score a negative five hundred in that area."

"Come on! It can't just be the sire bond, what is it? Compulsion, manipulation. What is it that you say to her?" Klaus said with a bit of desperation in his voice.

Damon caught the ball and turned to look at the hybrid. "I think this has something to do with a certain blonde vampire. I think you killed Carol Lockwood, and I think you're worried that Caroline's never gonna forgive you." Everyone turned to look at Caroline.

"What?"

"You slept with him right?" Enzo asked

"Shut up."

"You've done worse." Klaus reminded Damon.

"Debatable, see, I don't mind being the bad guy, because someone has to fill that role and get things done. You do bad things for no reason; you do them to be a dick."

"Debatable."

"If you're gonna be bad, be bad with a purpose, otherwise you're just not worth forgiving."

"You've done things just for the heck of it."

"First of all, I had no humanity then or something made me break. Second of all, stop trying to read me. It's annoying."

"You're just mad that you can't read me."

"Really?" Klaus nodded. "Alright, then how do I know that your father has beaten you when you were a child. Your brothers sometimes but not as much as you."

"How did you know that?"

"You were so desperate to kill your dad. Plus takes a victim to know a victim."

"Let me guess, your father hated you, and loved Stefan. He beat you but not Stefan."

"He tried, I stopped him. Stefan doesn't know. And if he knew why he beat me then he would have thrown a party after our dad died."

"I won't tell a soul, don't worry."

"Good. That tattoo you have, is there a scar?"

"My father stabbed me with a sword in my shoulder because he wanted something of mine. Yours?"

"My dad got drunk and thought I was my mother. He was so angry with himself that he wanted to kill me. He got a knife and cut open my arm. My scream woke the servants; they took me to the hospital. I told Stefan I fell out a tree. My tattoo hides some of it." They sat in silence for a while, thinking about their past. "Let's never talk about this again. I don't want pity looks."

"Agreed. But you know," Klaus got up to leave. "One of these days your humanity switch will be fully on. Can you take all the pain?"

"Could you? I know you went into my mind earlier, if it was you, could you?"

"Honestly, I'd rip my heart out if it happened."

"Me too" Klaus left the room and shut the door. Everything disappeared. Stefan was shocked, he told KLAUS. But not him.

Everyone seemed shocked by this information but Enzo.

"How are you so calm?" Alaric asked

"Because, I have heard about Klaus. I was easy to figure out what happened to him. It takes a monster to make a monster. It doesn't have to be one person. For Klaus it was his mother and father. For Damon it was all of you and the rest of your friends. That's why we got along so well. I didn't judge, nor did he. We knew what happened and why it happened. We didn't just to jump conclusions like you lot did." No one said anything but they all looked annoyed and ashamed "Come on then, let's see what else Damon has been hiding."

They continued to the next door that was completely black

Damon was in his bathroom washing his hands when Stefan came in with his arms crossed

"Is she safe?" Damon asked.

"Elijah kept his word. Rebekah let her go."

"Good. All's right in the world again." Damon picked up a glass of bourbon by the sink and walked out of the bathroom.

"I lost that coin toss Damon. Should have been me that turned Abby. Why did you do it?"

"Cause I'm not blind. I see what's been going on around here. You're hanging by a thread Stefan, barely over your last ripper beng. And all you want is to be the old Stefan again."

Stefan shook his head. "That part of me is gone for good."

"Oh yeah? How long it's been since your last drop of human blood?"

"How'd you know?"

"Spend 146 years with someone you start to pick up on their tells. Answer the question, how long it's been since your last drink?" He took a sip out of his drink and stared down Stefan.

"Since the night I threatened to drive Elena off of Wickery Bridge."

"See, you have enough to feel guilty about. Why add to the list? By the way, you're welcome." Damon turned to walk out of his room.

"You know you're not fooling anyone Damon. You still love her."

"I do. I thought I could win her from you fair and square. She didn't want me. It's for the best. I'm better at being the bad guy anyway." He walked away from his room leaving Stefan behind.

Enzo was shocked then just burst out laughing.

"Let me get this straight," Enzo, said, barely containing his laughter "Stefan tried to kill you on the bridge your parents died and you still went back to him? Are you that stupid?"

"You don't know what you're talking about." Elena said angrily

"I'm sorry. Did he not try and kill you?"

"Stefan was going crazy" Child Damon appeared "He didn't know what was right anymore. It's my fault. I should have taught him better. I should have made him take responsibility for his actions. I shouldn't have taken the blame every time."

Enzo bent down to look Damon in the eye. "But it's not your fault, mate. He should have learned by himself. You did. He should have noticed that your father was beating you."

"He could never know! He needed father, it was all he had left." The young boy's eyes started to fill with tears. "Go to the next room if you want." Damon left them and went to an empty room and just stared.

"Stefan why didn't you say something?" Caroline asked "We treated Damon like this for years."

"He likes being the good brother." Enzo stated as he stood up, "He follows the rules. People get hurt, but he listened to them. That's the difference between them. Nothing could stop Damon from helping the people he cared about. Sure, he left me. But he honoured my memory, instead of erasing me from his mind." He glared at Elena before turning to a door that had thorns and vines all over it. He reached for the doorknob when present day Damon appeared.

"I wouldn't go in there. Nothing is worth seeing in there."

"What is it?" Alaric asked

"Nothing."

"Open it Enzo." Elena demanded. She wanted to know what was behind that door as much as everyone else.

Enzo opened the door and you could hear whispers in the room. A 14-year-old Damon was sitting on his bed holding a knife to his arm and started to cut it. He was mumbling something.

"I look like her. I don't deserve to live. I'm nothing."

"No." Stefan whispered. He couldn't believe it; his brother had wanted to die since he was a boy.

There was a knock on the door that made Damon look up and hide the blade. He covered his arm so that they could see. No one could see him weak. Especially Stefan. He needed to be strong. Once his wounds were hidden, Damon opened the door and saw Stefan wearing a big goofy smile on his face.

"Damon, can we go play in the gardens? I want to play tag with you again."

Damon put on his best fake smile. "You think you can out-run me uh?" Stefan nodded, practically jumping on the spot. "Well then, race you to the garden." Damon ran passed Stefan and ran down the stairs. Stefan was laughing behind him trying to catch up to his brother.

The scene faded into another scene. Damon was staring out of a window somewhere. It looked like the 70s but they couldn't be sure. The whispering got louder. They realised that they could hear what Damon was thinking.

"You're the reason your mother is dead."

"You let your friend die in a fire. _Alone._"

"You're a monster!"

"You should be dead."

Damon started to take off his ring slowly. The voices got louder and louder until they were screaming at him. He was burning in the sun. He was just about to turn into ash when one word was said "_Stefan._" He couldn't leave Stefan. He flashed to the other wall and waited for his skin to heal.

"I can't leave Stefan." The voices said "He needs to learn how to control. I need to save Katherine. I need to be strong. I'm not weak. It is better to be hated and feared than loved." The voices repeated over and over again.

The scene changed again. Damon was in his room at the Boarding house. There was vervain on his desk; he stared at it and tapped his fingers. He picked it up. No gloves, he didn't even acknowledge the pain it was giving him. It was like he was numb. He put it all in his mouth and swallowed. The voice started saying something else now.

"It's always going to be Stefan."

"Maybe that's the problem."

"What's wrong with you."

"Self-serving sociopath."

"Ungrateful bastard."

"Kill me because then I would be free of you."

"You mean nothing to me."

"Who in their right mind would ever love you?"

"Just end it and it will all go away Damon." Damon continued to eat the vervain, forcing himself to swallow. It seem as if it was some sort of punishment for himself.

Stefan couldn't take it anymore. Tears were flowing down his face freely now. His own brother wanted to die. No one had ever chosen him because Damon was always making Stefan look better. It was just a habit now. "Stop." He whispered. "Stop it! Make it stop! DAMON! MAKE IT STOP!" Stefan fell to the ground, unable to hold himself up anymore. The memory stopped and Damon came to them.

"I warned you."

"How many?" Stefan asked weakly. NO one could move, as if they were paralyzed.

"How many times have you tried to kill yourself?"

"Too many to count"

"You, you were going to leave me?" Stefan cried

"I didn't want to live. I spent so much time taking care of you, that I was never truly happy. I was happy to get you to smile, to raise you. But no one cared about me. No one tried to make me happy. Even with Katherine and Elena. I knew they would always pick you over me. Everyone does. I don't deserve to be happy. Mother is dead because of me. I make the hard choices because that's what big brothers do. They do the hard things, even if everyone hates them in the end. Because I was right, and deep down they knew it too. They didn't want to admit it because it would make them too much like me. I can make the hard choices because I have nothing to live for. The happiest moment of my life was holding my baby brother. And I swore to myself that I would always look after you. And I have. Every time you went ripper mode I called Lexi. Even when I was mad at you. Because in the end you are all I have left."

"Then why would you try and kill yourself? If I was all you had, then you were all I had. You wanted to leave me. You were going to leave me all alone." Stefan cried.

"But you'll never be alone Stefan! You have Elena, Caroline, Tyler, Matt, everyone. You would always have someone. I can't feel pain. It's better that way. You want to know why I shut it out? Because when your father tells you every day that I should be dead, that I look like her, you crave love more than blood. The smallest act of kindness can trigger it. The need to be loved for who you are. And when that person hurts you, all you want to do is die, Stefan. But you would know. I spent years making sure you never went through what I went through. You didn't deserve it. You were just a kid, Stefan."

"SO WERE YOU! YOU SHOULD HAVE SAID SOMETHING TO ME. I GREW UP THINKING YOU HATED FATHER FOR NO REASON! THAT YOU NEVER CARED ABOUT ME!"

"IF I DIDN'T CARE ABOUT YOU THEN WHY WOULD I DO THESE THINGS? I COULDN'T BE WEAK! YOU NEEDED ME TO BE STRONG! I COULDN'T EVEN CRY! And when I did, you felt guilty for no reason. I am your brother. I did what was right. NO one but me was hurt in the end and I deserved it." Damon stared at all of them. Caroline was trying not to cry in the corner. Elena looked paralysed. Alaric just stared at Stefan and Enzo was silently judging and watching them all.

Damon had enough. This was the reason he never told anyone. First they would look at him with pity, then they would walk around eggshells around him. Soon they would just blame him for what they were feeling. Blame him for being abused, for letting them find out. "Get out of my head."

Everything turned black and they found themselves back inside Alaric's office. Damon's eyes shot open, he was gasping. He found himself placed in a chair infront of Alaric's desk. He looked around the room and saw pity, sadness, and pain. He hated it. He didn't need pity; he got through his life without it. He got up and turned to look at Alaric straight in his eyes.

"You got your answers, do it."

"Ok." Alaric grabbed Damon shoulders. "You only loved Elena because you wanted to replace Elena. When you came back, you didn't want to lie anymore. You wanted to be free of her. You wanted to be happy." Alaric stopped and looked at Stefan, asking for permission. Stefan nodded through the tears.

"Damon, your mum's death wasn't your fault. It was your father. You are free to do whatever you want." Stefan couldn't stop crying. His brother hated living, hated him, and hated himself. And he never saw how much Damon was hurting. Even when Damon hated him, wanted to kill him. He kept his promise. He took care of him.

Damon's mind started to clear. He still remembered loving Elena, but it was nothing but a memory now. He felt better than he has in decades. Like all his pain was washing away. Everything seems brighter now. His heart wasn't hidden behind walls and chains anymore; it was free.

Enzo broke the silence first. "Damon, mate. Let's have a drink to celebrate your return back to the living." Enzo put his hand on Damon's shoulder and walked him out of the room. No else said anything after they left, but Caroline started crying. In his mind, they could feel what he was feeling. Hear what he was thinking. Experience his pain right along side him.

Elena couldn't breathe. The man who killed her brother had been through so much. She wondered if she was one of the reasons he wanted to die. A little voice in the back of her mind said it was, but she couldn't remember what she had done. She only remembered him being a monster. It never occurred to her that she cause him enough pain to want to die.

~Damon P.O.V~

Enzo and I were drinking some bourbon talking about ways to bring Bonnie back when I heard it. A voice. But it was beautiful. She had dark brown, wavy hair and brown, with a hint of green eyes (I'm using Lily Collins as Damon's love interest). She was singing something I had never heard before, but I loved it.

"The drought was the very worst

When the flowers that we'd grown together died of thirst

It was months, and months of back and forth

You're still all over me like I wine-stained dress I can't wear anymore

Hung my head, as I lost the war, and the sky turn black like a perfect storm

Rain came pouring down when I was drowning

That's when I could finally breathe

And that morning, gone was any trace of you, I think I am finally clean

There was nothing left to do

And the butterflies turned to dust they covered my whole room

So I punched a hole in the roof

Let the flood carry away all my pictures of you

The water filled my lungs, I screamed so loud but no one heard a thing

Rain came pouring down when I was drowning

That's when I could finally breathe

And that morning, gone was any trace of you, I think I am finally clean

I think I am finally clean

Said, I think I am finally clean

10 months sober, I must admit

Just because you're clean don't mean you miss it

10 months older I won't give in

Now that I'm clean I'm never gonna risk it

The drought was the very worst

When the flowers that we'd grown together died of thirst

Rain came pouring down when I was drowning

That's when I could finally breathe

And that morning, gone was any trace of you, I think I am finally clean

Rain came pouring down when I was drowning

That's when I could finally breathe

And that morning, gone was any trace of you, I think I am finally clean"

God she had a voice of an angel. I briefly noticed Enzo trying to talk to me but how could pay attention? I had to find out who she was.

"Hey Enzo?" Enzo stopped talking and waited for me to continue, "I'll be right back."

"Oh alright then. Hurry up though." I walked away from him and headed towards the beauty ahead. She looked at me then looked away. I didn't take that as a bad reaction. In fact it's the best kind.

"Hi."

"Hi."

"I heard you sing and I just wanted to say it was incredible. Do you sing often?"

"Thanks. And no. That was actually my first time singing in front of people."

"Did you write it?"

"Yeah, I did. Can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"I didn't make a fool of myself up there right? Cause I don't even take music. It's more of a hobby of mine." She blushed

"Trust me, you did not make a fool of yourself. Hell, you made a fool out of every singer out there."

"Thanks. I'm Lily, Lily Evans." She held her hand out to shake.

"Damon, Damon Salvatore." I gently took her hand and kissed the back of it, making her blush more.

"So Damon, I've never seen you around here before."

"My friend Alaric teach's here. I'm visiting. I was…somewhere else before."

"Alaric? The a cult professor?"

"Yeah, do you take his class?"

"Yeah, it was a dare. I had to pick the strangest class for a semester. It was that or drama. Who wants to do drama?"

"Drama queens." I smirked, making her laugh

"I've got to get to my next class but, I'll see you around Damon."

"That you will Lily. That you will." She walked away as did I but not without looking back. She turned to look at me and blushed at getting caught. I returned to Enzo, trying to hear what he was saying; but only one thing was on my mind.

_I have to see her again._


	2. Chapter 2-Fancy seeing you here

_**Chapter 2**_

~Damon P.O.V~

I was heading over to Alaric's class, hoping to see Lily there again. But I also wanted to see what was wrong with Alaric. Ever since I came back he and along with everyone else-aside from Enzo-has been acting strange. At first I just thought that it was the fact that I came back from the dead after four months. However, you expect them giving me hugs or something. Not just staring at me. It's getting creepy now.

Alaric was talking about some random crap that I didn't understand. I was standing by the door; he didn't notice I was here yet. But someone else had. Lily looked up and saw me standing and gave me a small smile. I gave her a little wave, waiting for Alaric to notice I was here.

"Now, you'd all have probably heard or seen the movie Annabelle. Lets look at the facts about this then: In 1970 a mother purchased an antique Raggedy Ann Doll from a hobby store. The doll was a present for her daughter Donna on her birthday. Donna, at the time, was a student in college, preparing to graduate with her nursing degree and resided in a tiny apartment with her roommate Angie, who was also a nurse. Pleased with the doll Donna placed it on her as a decoration and didn't give it a second thought until a few days later. Within that time both Donna and Angie noticed that there appeared to be something very strange creepy about the doll. The doll apparently moved on its own, relatively unnoticeable movement at first, like a change in position, but as time passed the movement became more noticeable. Donna and Angie would come home and find the doll in completely different room from which they had left it. Sometimes the doll would be found crossed legged on the couch with its arms folded. Other times it was found upright, standing on its feet, leaning against a chair in the dining room. Several times Donna, placing the doll on the coach before leaving for work, would return home to find the doll back in her room on the bed with the door closed."

"Aw, Alaric. You spoiled it for me." I said catching his and everyone else's attention.

"Damon, I'm teaching right now."

"This will only take a sec." I got Alaric out of the classroom leaving his students confused.

"So, what's up Damon?"

"You tell me. Everyone is acting weird around me and I don't understand why. At first I thought it was the fact that I came back from the dead…again. But it's not. Everyone is watching me like a hawk. And trust me I am use to women doing it, but not you, not Stefan."

"Damon, I don't know what to tell you. We are all just in shock I guess. We all tried to move on from your death, to forget and now that-"

"What? You wanted to forget me? All of you? Even Stefan?"

"No, not like that. I mean Enzo was looking for a way to bring you back all summer, Stefan looked for a way, Elena went into drugs."

"What about you huh? I bet the whole time I was gone, you helped look for me, but I was a distraction. Wasn't I? I spent four months with Bonnie in a supernatural groundhog day, while you just lied to yourself. Acting human, pretending to be something you're not. You are no better than everyone else. You may have given up on Bonnie but I haven't. I will bring her back."

"Damon, I'll help you get Bonnie back and we can bury her next to her father like she would have wanted. We all will help."

"Yeah, cause you are all willing to bend of backwards for everyone, but me." I walked away from him. Ignoring him calling my name. I can't look at him right now.

I found myself at the bar again, drinking obviously. Someone sat on the stool next to me. Great, Enzo.

"What do you want Enzo. Can't you tell that I want to drink alone?"

"Now I don't believe that. Misery loves company right?" He signalled the barkeep for a drink. "I heard what happened with the teacher. Don't hate him. At least he tried looking for you. Your brother gave up after two months."

"He what?!" I said outraged

"Why did you think I killed his girlfriend? He tried to move on and forget all about you. So I promised to give him an eternity of misery."

"You're telling my lines. Did anyone want to remember me? Why does everyone like living in denial?"

"Don't ask me mate. I looked."

"Thanks for that. I'm gonna call it a night."

"Have fun."

I started wondering around the woods and I found myself at the cemetery where I found Stefan. I wonder if I would be missed if I were gone. I asked myself that so many times over the years. The only time I was sure was when I was really gone. I knew Elena would. I was wrong. I know I don't love her anymore, but it still hurts to know that I could be forgotten so easily. Even Stefan forgot about me. I never forget about the people that have died because of me, for me, with me. I find myself thinking about Rose from time to time. My friends in the army. My victims. I always feel guilt. That has always been the difference between me a Stefan, well everyone really. I can put on a good face and lie. I don't wear my emotions to get pity. Pity doesn't help me. It's for them, so they can feel better about themselves so that they can say that care. They understand. But no one will understand unless they have been through something like it.

I do feel better than I have for a while now, and don't get me wrong; I'm grateful to be back. I owe Bonnie everything; I won't throw this life away. But the thoughts will always be there. 173 years of pain, that no one knows about. My guilt is the size of the earth by now. Even if I get forgiven. Even if I make peace.

My thoughts are interrupted when I hear rustling in the bushes. So I go over towards the sound.

"Damon?"

I thought I would never hear her voice again. I can't believe I'm saying this but I really did miss her. "Bonnie!" I rush over to her. There is blood on her shirt-probably when Kai shot her with the arrow-she looks tired.

"Damon…" She starts to faint so I speed over to her and catch her. It must be the blood loss. I bite into my wrist and give it to her.

"Drink Bonnie. You don't want Jeremy to see for the first time in months at a hospital do you?" She starts to swallow slowly. I get out my phone and call Caroline. "Hey Blondie, you'll never guess who I just found."

"What?"

"Go to the Salvatore crypt. Bring everyone." I hang up before she can say anything. The wound in Bonnie's stomach is healing so I help her stand up. "Come on."

"Are they coming?"

"Yeah, you'll see them soon. Where's Kai?"

"He's still there. He can't get out. Is everyone ok?"

"Yeah, you should know that Jeremy has been sleeping with other women." Her face went pale. "Don't worry. I've been through this. They are just distractions. He really does miss you. That's a fact. Everyone does." Her face lit up.

"Was Elena happy?"

Great, here comes the awkward part. "Yeah, Elena doesn't remember loving me." I told her slowly

"What? How?"

"She asked Alaric to erase her memories of loving me. She was going to get Alaric to compel her to remember if I came back but she doesn't want to remember. She has a better life without me."

"And are you ok?"

"Yeah, it was awake up call really. I realized I was pretending the whole time and I don't want to lie to myself anymore. Enough about me. You ready to see them?"

"Yeah."

"Wait here. I want to surprise them."

I left her in the crypt and went outside where Caroline, Elena, Stefan, Alaric, Matt and finally Jeremy were.

"Why did you call us here Damon?" Caroline asked

"What, can't a guy that has been raised from the dead call everyone to show up at a crypt for a party anymore? Has the world changed that much since I died."

"Damon, be serious." Elena said

"I am, Bonnie and I were going to have a party here."

"What?" Jeremy said "Bonnie's back?"

"I don't know. You tell me, come out."

Bonnie came out of the crypt with tears in her eyes and a smile on her face. She was instantly in a group hug with everyone. There were tears and laughing and love. I slipped away without being noticed. I was going to head over to the apartment I was staying at for the time. But I saw something that made me change my mind. I saw Lily on a bench near Whitmore writing something down.

"Are you writing about the hot, mysterious Damon you met the other night?" I asked sitting down next to her.

She looked up at me and smiled. "Close. I'm writing about the hot, strange Damon."

"Ahh, so you think I'm hot." I smirked

"Please, you know you're hot." She rolled her eyes

"I know, it's nice to hear. Boosts my ego."

"I don't know, I have heard of people dying from having a huge ego." She teased

"Oh my god, how?"

"Well, their girlfriends got so tired of hearing them talk about themselves that they killed them. You should watch out."

"I think I'm safe. No girlfriend."

"You? A 24 year old hot rich guy, is single?"

"I know right? And I'm a bit insulted, I look 24?"

"Well how old are you"

"I'm 23. You?"

"20."

"How did you know I was rich?"

"You are wearing Armani shoes."

"You know men's fashion?"

"I know high quality brands."She corrected

"So what are you studying to be?"

"Psychologist. I like being able to help people and tell what they are thinking."

"Huh? So what am I thinking?"

"You are trying to figure out if I'm insane or not?"

"Close. I was thinking about asking you out."

"I would not have guessed that."

"Do you?"

"Yes."

"Great. I am going to take you out tomorrow night and you are going to fall in love with me."

"Please, you are going to fall in love with me first."

"Is that a challenge?"

"It's a fact. I'm just that lovable."

"Well I guess we'll just have to see. Can I have your phone?" She nodded and handed me her iPhone. "OK, here is my number and now I have yours." I sent a text to myself you I would have her number. "Here you go."

She laughed when she saw the name I gave myself on her phone. "Greek sex god?"

"You and I both know that you were going to put that down. I just saved you the trouble."

"I was planning on putting Greek sex _weirdo._"

"Damn, I was close."

"You were. Well, I have to get back to my dorm before my roommate locks me out again."

"She locks you out?"

"Yep. She has to sleep at 10 and if I wake her up I must stay up with her until she falls asleep. She is very vengeful."

"Well we don't want that now do we. Goodnight Lilly."

"Night Damon."


	3. Chapter 3-Do you care?

_**Chapter 3-Do you care?**_

I was currently in Enzo's apartment, where he was trying to convince me not to go out on a date with Lily, for god knows what reason.

"Why can't I go out with her Enzo? She's fun."

"Because you just came back from a weird witchy hell and broke up with Elena. I don't think you are ready."

"I am ready. Trust me."

"What do you really know about her?"

"Nothing really. That's why people go out on dates."

"What if Elena remembers and tries to win you back and kills Lily?"

"First of all, She won't remember. Second, I don't want to get back together. And finally, she won't find out. Look Enzo I just want to move on. With Lily."

"I thought you loved Elena. Like forever and ever crap."

"I did. But she didn't. I don't even feel anything for her ok? Coming back from a weird supernatural groundhog day woke me up. I realized that I don't want to lie to myself anymore. Plus, Elena just hating me is great, I didn't really want to do the whole break up thing…. again."

"Fair enough. What about Stefan and Alaric?"

"You mean the guys I died for so that they could come back to life, who looked for me for two months then gave up and expected me to not care?"

"Yes. What are you going to do about them?"

"As far as I'm concerned, you were the only one that came back that night. Now, I have to meet Lily. Don't do anything I would do."

"What does that leave?"

"Touché. See ya.

* * *

After Lily and I talked about where to go when I remembered overhearing Alaric talking about some gala he was going to. That really isn't my kind of scene, but I was never one to turn down an open bar. So this evening I would be escorting her to said event. I was on my to Lily's dorm room when Bonnie called me.

"Hey Bonnie."

"Hey, what are you doing right now?"

"You know me, scaring children, killing the innocent. The usual." I replied

"God Damon, you're so funny, is anyone funnier than you?"

"I don't thinks so. If there was I would have eaten him by now."

"Anyway, I need your help. I'm not going to be staying in the same dorm as Elena and Caroline anymore, and I need some help packing."

"Why are you moving out?" I asked

"After the whole repeating world thing I feel like I need a change of scenery. Plus, they have gotten really clingy. I mean I know I was gone but every time I go to the bathroom they just get emotional and weird."

"No I get, you need your space. Does Elena and Caroline know that you're moving out?"

"No." She paused for a few seconds. "I'm telling them tonight. Elena has… something tonight and Caroline is MIA."

"Well good luck to you. Knowing Caroline she will come up with a speech for you to stay the second you tell her. But, I can't help you tonight, I've got plans."

"Plans? What plans?"

"Just….stuff." I hesitated, I wasn't really ready to tell Bonnie about Lily yet. I don't mind tell Enzo because I know he doesn't care enough to tell anyone. Right now she was my own little secret. And yes, I know it sounds weird but after sharing not one, but two women I have loved, I wasn't ready for the people in my life to know her. With my luck Stefan will meet her and they will fall in love. "I'm just hanging out with Enzo. He wanted some bonding time, and he should get it. I mean he did try the hardest to get us back."

"You. To get _you_ back."

"Yeah, well, we are a package deal now. But, sorry that I can't come over tonight. I'll come over tomorrow and help."

"Ok, thanks Damon. Wish me luck."

"Good luck. Bye."I hung up just as I reached her dorm room and knocked on the door. I could hear shuffling inside the room and quiet whispers. I could faintly hear someone telling them to get the door and soon after they yelled "Just a second."

The door was soon opened by a black haired girl. "You must be Damon" She said, I nodded and smiled confused. She leaned against the door preventing me from seeing inside. "I'm Emma, Lily's roommate. She's just getting her bag." Unsure of what I should do I just nodded and stood there awkwardly. Luckily, it didn't take Lily that long to find her purse.

"Sorry, sorry"She cried as she came to the door. "I'll see you tonight Emma." She gave her friend a hug and Emma shut the door. "God I'm so sorry I couldn't find my bag I was just going to go without a bag but then I realised that I need my phone so I had to bring a bag."She rambled but I wasn't really paying attention. All I could focus on was how beautiful she looked in that red dress. "So I started freaking out….and you are staring. Oh god do I look like a freak? I don't know what Emma did with the make-up. I mean I would have done it myself but having a design student as your roommate makes it hard."

"Lily," I cupped her neck with my hand "you look stunning."I smiled when I saw her blush.

"Sorry about the freak out. I don't really care about what I wear it just I've never gone to a fancy party-thing before."

"Are you ready to go?" I asked.

"I am." I took out my arm and she linked hers with mine. As we were walking through the street we made easy small talk on the way to the door was already open and I could hear music playing inside.

"What did you say this was a gala for?" She asked

"Well I don't actually know but," I noticed a sign that had the words _ Parker_ "judging from that sign I guess this is a medical… function"

"Are we allowed to be here?"

"Well there's no guest list and we got in ok, but if anyone asks we are medical students."

"Mmmm, I don't know. I mean you look like a nurse to me."

"What? I have a perfect doctor face, I could be on Grey's anatomy." She laughed

"Alright then _Dr._Salvatore, shall we mingle with the other doctors and at like we are the greatest doctors in the world?"

"You read my mind." I offered her my arm and walked her towards the crowd of people. They were all chatting and drinking, I lead her up to an older couple who were talking quietly. They noticed us coming towards them and had looked at Lily with distant, as if she did not belong here. Lily was the first to speak.

"Hello, we don't mean to disturb you but I've been following your work for a while now. I think you are amazing at what you do, so I just wanted to say hi."

"Oh," the woman looked flattered at Lily's comment and was blushing a little. Gone was the judgmental look on her face, replaced with politeness and a wide smile. "That's sweet of you dear." She pointed at the man next to her. "This is my husband George, he is a pediatrician. What did you say your name was, dear?"

"My name's Phoebe and this is my fiancé Greg." This was going to be fun.

"It's so nice to meet you." I tried speaking in a bad southern accent and Lily looked like she was going to start laughing soon. "My fiancé talks about you all the time, she loves what you do. In fact you're one of the reasons that she's in medical school."

"Oh, thanks lovely dear. What field are you studying?"

"I'm studying to to be a Andrologists."

"I'm not familiar with that, what exactly does a andrologist do?"

"Well, Andrologists specialise in treating disorders related to the male reproductive system." The look on that woman's face was indescribable, her eye was twitching and she looked so disturbed. "That was actually how I met Greg. He has a rare symptom called Microphallus or Mircopenis, as it is most commonly known as." George had unfortunately just taking a sip of his water when Lily said that and started choking a little. I had a hard time not laughing.

"Phoebe, there's no need to tell them everything about our personal lives. I don't think they are that interested."

"You're right I'm sorry, I've always been a bit too open about my personal life. I just couldn't help myself. I mean you are this generation's greatest extoric photographer. Your pictures on the male anatomy were what inspired me to become a Andrologists."

The couple looked mortified by what they had heard coming out of Lily's mouth. The old woman was clutching her hand to her chest, eyes and mouth open wide in shock. George wore the same expression but was gripping his wife's waist, as if it was keeping her together.

The woman was the first to recover, taking in a deep calming breath. "I'm afraid to tell you that you've got the wrong person. I'm Margaret Sanders, a former heart surgeon."

"I do? Well, I guess it makes sense I mean why would Jake Kan be act a medical...function."

"I'm sorry," Margaret held up her hand infront of Lily's face. "Did you honestly think that _I_ was a _man_?" Lily pretend to be shocked by her reaction. I decided that it was my turn to mess with the couple.

"Oh no, you misunderstood my fiance here. Jake Kan is a transgender." I said innocently. I could feel Lily's grip on me getting stronger, she was trying not to laugh so hard. Once again Margaret was mortified, I was almost starting to feel bad. But, then I remembered how she looked at Lily. "Well, we have taken up enough of your time and George" I turned to address the quiet man. "next time you you're at the club, I'll ensure you get a free dance from one of the girls." With that I quickly lead Lily somewhere else, just barely catching some of the few choice words she said to her husband.

"Oh my god, that was hilarious. Did you see their faces? Gosh, I haven't had this much fun in ages." She said smiling.

"Well, I can honestly say that I have never done anything like that before, well I have but no one would do it with me. You seem to be the exception to that _Dr _Parker."

"That's because I like having fun." She said smiling at me "I need to go to the bathroom."

"Alright I'll get us some drinks. What would you like?"

"Um, a screwdriver" She must have seen the odd look on my face as she felt the need to explain herself. "I don't really like alcohol that much plus everyone will think you drink orange juice."

"You are evil." She just smiled sweetly at me. "Ok, I'll be right back." I headed towards the bar and ordered some orange juice and bourbon. As I took the glass from the bartender and turned around I saw Alaric and his doctor friend. I was hoping that he wouldn't see me but he did, so I walked towards them. "Alaric, what are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same thing." he said looking distractingly at me.

"Well you know me, never one to pass up an open bar." I smirked

"Yeah, usually people get alcohol at a bar not orange juice." Gesturing to the drink in my hand.

"I have you know that getting my daily amount of vitamin C is very important to me."

"Are you sure you want to be here? I mean Elena is here. Is that why you came? 'Cause Elena is here?" Alaric asked suspiciously.

"Oh yeah Elena and her date Liam." Jo gossiped "That would be Liam Davis, valedictorian, straight A's freshman year taking junior-level classes, not to mention medical royalty. Not so bad on the eyes either. Jealous?"

"I don't do jealous. Not with her. Or have you of you forgotten that I can move on?" I asked Alaric. I turned to look at Jo "And I do hope you realise that I don't care about what a ex witch has to say about anything." I smiled "Have a great night." I turned and walked away from both of them, finishing my drink and getting a new one. I went to find Lily, trying not to run into Elena and her date on the way.

I found her just outside the woman's bathroom."Hey"

"Hey" She smiled at me as I handed her her drink. "Thanks. So enjoying the party?"

"Alright, aside from finding out my ex is here with a date."

"Oh, I'm sorry." The smile on her face was then replaced with a frown.

"Don't be, I'm over it."

"I know, I just feel bad. I know I wouldn't want to see my ex here." She was playing with the rim around the glass before taking a sip from it.

"What happened with you and your ex?" I raised my eyebrow at her. She seems like the kind of girl that wouldn't let a man keep her from enjoying life.

"Oh, so you want to go into the uncomfortable past relationships, huh?"

"Well, not to brag or anything, but I have the worst taste in girlfriends according to my track record."

"Really? So am I going to be on that list?"

"Too soon to tell."

"There is no way what happened with your ex is worse than mine."

"Really, what happened?"

"I dated him for two years and we were happy. Keep in mind I was about 15 when we started dating. So I was in that stage of believing that every relationship lasts forever. We were walking down the street when he found a lottery ticket on the ground; and won 50 million dollars. When he found out he told me-and I'll never forget this- 'I love you but with 15 million dollars I could date supermodels. You understand right?' The jerk."Seems like we both understand what's it like to be thrown away like nothing.

"Well I doubt that he still has all that money." I'm not really sure what you would say in these situations. Do you say sorry? What would be the point? It wouldn't change anything. So I went with that.

"That's the best part, he invested. In apple, 15%. So he is living happily." She drank more of her screwdriver, drinking away the memories of him.

"That must suck, but hey. He was an idiot for letting you go." I smiled reassuring at her. I don't know who this guy was but he really was an asshole. And that's coming from me. I would never do that. Well, I guess that's because I've got enough money already. And because every time a relationship is going the way I want it, the universe decides to fuck it up for me.

"Thanks. So, I told my story. What's yours?"

"Let's see. I've been in love twice, and both times they were in love with my brother. The first one used me and kept me around for her amusement. The second wouldn't acknowledge her feelings for me and strung me along for a year or two. Then when she and I got together, some things transpired and decided to forget all about me."

I used to have a bad ache in my chest when thinking about it. There was plenty of time to think in that hell hole. Always wondering what would have happened if I never met either of them. I would have probably gotten married and had some children. That was the life I was raised to have, that was the life I grew to despise in the end. I don't think I could ever do the white-picket fence with the friendly neighbours. It's not in my nature.

"That...is much worse then what happened to me. You win." "I'm sorry unrequited love sucks."

"Who was it for you?" I inquired.

"Well, Benedict Cumberbatch. It's not the same but it still hurts."

I started laughing after she said that, unable to contain myself any longer. This girl was a breath of fresh air after all the judgement he had received in the past 3 years. I was used to people walking around egg shells or just bluntly telling me to get over it. No ever really made a joke about it. Except for Enzo, but that doesn't really count cause he wasn't around during my pinning stage.

"I don't know about you but," I threw back my drink and finished it in one gulp. "I think that is enough exs talk for one night. Why don't we go to the bar and get nice and drunk?"

"I think that might be one of your best ideas yet."

I lead her to the bar and ordered myself a new drink, as she was still nursing hers. After that we just talked about anything and everything. Telling each other crazy stories and strange fears. I had never done this before, just talking.

With Katherine it was all about her, and I was too lovestruck to care. Constantly doing her every bidding without the slightest hesitation. The only time I had any real say was when we were in bed, and even that rarely happened. Then there was Andie. Now, she doesn't really count but, she was a nice distraction. Always ready to be the shoulder to cry on. Never judging me. The compulsion just stopped her from being afraid. Her willingness to listen and help was all on her own. But then Stefan decided to be a dick and kill her. Thanks brother. And finally we have Elena. My feeling for Elena may have been because she was basically Katherine. The only difference was that she acted like she wasn't aware of what she was doing. A least Katherine could admit when she was manipulating someone. Unfortunately she had to act like she didn't give a shit so that she didn't feel guilty. I guess that's what happens when you fall in love with a doppelganger. Thank god that's over.

* * *

Caroline was so excited about Bonnie coming to the, well, dead. But now that that's over they can really start to enjoy life. Collage style. Oh the things she had planned. Sure the year didn't start off great, what with Elena being a drug addict and Bonnie in supernatural limbo. Nevertheless, Caroline Forbes was going to make this a great year.

As Caroline was getting the room set up just the way Bonnie liked it, she walked in.

"Hey, so I was thinking that we should slumper it." She already got all the snacks out and movies, but movies like _Castaway_ was banned for obvious reasons "I know that we are roommates but we should stay up and-" Caroline noticed a number of boxes in her friend's hands."Why do you have boxes?"

Bonnie took a deep breath, she knew how hard this would be for her. "Caroline. I'm changing rooms." She said softly

"What?" She said outraged "You can't leave. This is one of the best years of our lives we should be together and be happy." She was wildly gesturing now, as if it would show how

"But I'm not going to be happy in this room."

"What are you talking about?" Why wouldn't she be happy? They were finally together, things were getting back to normal.

"I'm not the same person anymore Care. I know you want me to be but I'm not. That place changed me and I, like how it changed me. It made me stronger."

"But I don't understand why you have to leave."

"Because if I stay here I'm just going to be that girl that would sacrificed her life for her friends. And I'm not saying I regret it, it's just. I'm tired, I'm tired of having to have everyone and myself. I want to be the one people sacrificed their lives for." Bonnie placed the boxes on the floor next to Elena's bed.

"You are, we tried to save you."

"But then you gave up. I never gave up. I lost everything. My grams, mum, dad. I lost so much when I was trying to save you all." Tears gathered in her eyes has she remembered her family. How she wished she could just her gram's voice one last time.

"We've all lost Bonnie."

"I know but, I want to try something different. I want to, push my comfort zone and meet new people." Bonnie started walking slowly towards Caroline, as if she was a wounded animal.

"Do you still have to go?"

"We both know I have to. What are you always saying 'make memories'. That's what I'm doing. I promise things aren't going to change. I'm still going to be here, we'll see each other everyday. I'm not even that far away, just down the hall."

"OK, but if you hate you going to come back right."

"I promise. I love you Care." She pulled her into a hug. She could already feel Caroline's tears on her back

"I love you too."

* * *

Throughout our conversation, the both of us couldn't stop smiling. Especially when I told her the story about how I worked in the kitchen of a bar. I walked into work and get back in the kitchen when immediately our youngest cook who was just getting off work comes back and says "There's some dude wandering around back here, I think he's looking for the bathroom." We have extremely easy to find customer bathrooms as soon as you walk in the door and we also have a bathroom in the back for staff. Anyways, we walk back and can't find him anywhere. I finally open up the freezer and he's standing there looking the other way. I start saying "Hey man you need some help finding your way ba….WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING!?" you can tell where I looked down and saw the hug pile of piss on the freezer floor and some real wet boxes of wings. The guy had to pay for 5 boxes of wings and was banned.

Lily was taking a sip of her drink when I told her, but instead of choking, her drink came out of her nose. Keep in mind that she was drinking orange juice and vodka so it must have hurt like a bitch when it came out of her nose. So I passed her a tissue as she was trying to hide her blushing face. I was luckily not in the line of fire but some unfortunate people were. And because the universe hates me so goddamn much, Elena was one of those few people.

Sadly, she decided to come towards us, along with her new boy toy. What did Joe say his name was again? Jim? Luke? Whatever.

She stopped in front of us. Her dress didn't get most of the water, in sure Caroline would have a fit if it was ruined.

"Damon, sorry. I didn't know that you were here." She said cautiously. I'm not sure why though. What did she think I was going to do? Kill her new boyfriend? Well, that is quite tempting but I don't think murdering someone on the first sends a good impression.

"That's fine. Hi. Damon Salvatore, Elena's ex. Nice to meet you…" I held out my hand to him. Most people think we do this out of respect but really, it's to see who is stronger. And I am obviously the stronger one compared to this...boy. Even though I don't want Elena back, it doesn't mean that I can't intimidate the new guy.

"Liam." Yeah, now he was looking afraid. Good, he does have a brain.

"Liam."

"Wait. Damon?"

"Damon." I nodded affirmatively. Did I scare him to much? Is he now only capable of saying my name. I usually don't mind that but I would prefer it to be Lily in this case.

"As in the ex who died?"

"Right. Yeah, um, that is what I... What I told you. Obviously, that's not true." Well Elena, lying to your new boyfriend already. Some things never change.

"It's a figure of speech. It's more kind of an emotional death. You know, it was a very messy breakup, but we're past that now, right? We're... we're in the friend stage." Would we be considered as friends? All she ever really did was use me. But, I shall be the bigger, more handsome man.

"Right. Who's your friend?"

"Yeah. I'm sorry Lily I'm being rude. This is Lily, my date and that's Elena my ex."

"Hi, so are you enjoying the party?"

"Yeah. Are you a first year student or something I've never seen you in the medical building."

"That would be because I don't study medicine."

"Oh, so how did you two meet?"

"Oh, at the college bar. That's where all the funs at."

"Lily would like to dance, we should give them some time to...catch up."

"Sure."

Elena and I watched our dates go out on to the dance floor, slowly swaying to the music. I turned to look at Elena .

This was going to be fun(!)

* * *

Bonnie had left to bring her stuff into her new room. Caroline was still trying her hardest not to cry. She should be happy for Bonnie. After she managed to control her tears she called Enzo to help her with the packing. Caroline was getting a new box from Elena's bed when Enzo and Stefan walked in. She hasn't spoken to him since, since they took that trip in Damon's mind.

"Stefan, what are you doing here?" Enzo started looking through the dorm room and going through their things. He didn't bother with saying hello as he knew Caroline would be more interested in what Broody had to say.

"I heard that Bonnie was moving and she needed some help packing. So I thought I would come and offer some assistance." Yes, that is what happened. Stefan didn't listen to his private conversation in a bar and threatened to kill him if he didn't. Enzo is clearly not scared of anything that Stefan does, but he did love a good drama.

"Well you assistance is not needed, so go home."

"Look, I'm not going home until you tell me what I can do to make this right."

"Just, forget it." She said defeated "You can help by putting Bonnie's clothes in the box."

"Hang on. Just so I'm clear. All Caroline had to do to get you to treat her with a modicum of respect, is to stop paying attention to you. Is that how this works?"

"No, but Bonnie needs all the help she can get. So, you know, help."

What happened to that girl that never wanted to see Stefan again? What could possibly-"Oh. That's brilliant. Of course that's why she hates you. That's how you worked her into such a state in Savannah. That's why she told you to go take a leap. She hates you because she doesn't hate you at all."

"I'm sorry. What are you talking about?" How could he not see it? It was so obvious.

"She got a thing for you, mate."He laughed as he saw the look of disbelievement on his face. "God, you are so blind. No wonder Damon didn't tell you about his date."

"Damon has a date." Oops

"That's what you're choosing to focus on? This is bloody brilliant. Give my best to Bonnie" Enzo walked out the door, leaving the pair in awkward silence.

"Whatever he just said, it will never be discussed again, ok?"

"Mm-hmm."

* * *

I stared at Elena, waiting for her to speak. When it became painfully obvious that she wouldn't, I broke the silence.

"So, Liam he seems, not your type."

"What are you doing, Damon?" Her arms were crossed infront of her chest.

"What? You said we were friends. Don't friends talk about this kind of stuff?"

"No, I meant what are you doing with Lily?"

"Dating her." What else would I be doing?

"Damon, you can't you her as a blood bag."

"Hey, I didn't say I was." Why must she go to the worst case. Oh that's rights, she Elena. The caretaker. And I'm Damon, the monster. Lets forget that I _died_ saving the town.

"Then what are you doing with her?"

"I told you. I'm dating her." Get It through your brain, it's not that difficult.

"She doesn't look like you type."

"Why? Because she isn't a doppel-bitch that gets everyone killed?" What gave her the right to judge my dating choices? Sure, I questioned Liam but, look at the guy. He looks like he's 15.

"What's wrong with you? You don't act like this." Elena dropped her arms down and put on her 'I'm disappointed at you face' on. That use to work so well on me before. Well not any more. I'm sick and tired of her acting like I should just fucking obey her like a dog. Well, she doesn't need me for that anymore. She's got a new mutt.

"That's because you haven't seen me not in love with you. Now, I'm going to get my _date_ back." I took one last look at her hurt face, enjoying that I made her speechless

I walked away from Elena and towards the dance floor, making my way to Lily. I tapped him on the shoulder, and gestured if I can could take over. He nodded at Lily and went towards Elena.

"Sorry about that." I softly swayed her to the music playing. Her arms around my neck and my hands on her waist, she was so small in my arms.

"Worry about. It could have been worse."

"I don't know how that would be possible." I said with a laugh. "Hey, do you want to go anywhere else?"

"God, yes." She broke out into a wide smile and took her hand, leading her out the door.

* * *

Elena watched as Damon danced with Lily, then taking her away. Was he like that with her? Romantic? He changed so much after coming back from the prison world. From what she remembers, he was always there, listening to what she said.

Or had he? Her compelled memories made things very hard to understand. Why did she fall in love with him? How? He was so cruel. And yet, when he was near her heart always seemed to beat faster. Whether it was out of fear or attraction she didn't know.

"You're not over him yet are you?" Liam's voice came from behind her. She had forgotten all about him. Too lost in her own thoughts.

"What? No, trust me. I don't have anymore feelings for him." That was ridiculous. Alaric compelled these feelings away, it's impossible.

"Elena, you were jealous of his date. You wouldn't stop staring at her."

"I'm just surprised by it that's all. He moved on so quickly."

"Like you did?"

"No, it's just. Weird, seeing him with someone, and taking them on a date."

"I get it. Call me when you get your story together."

"No, Liam. "But it was to late, he had already walked away. She could stop him, it would be easy. But what would she say?

* * *

"No way." I said astounded "You did not do that." My hand was still holding her's as we walk on the street

"It was I dare."She couldn't stop laughing at my shock expression.

"Who dares someone to run around a college campus in their underwear?"

"That's Kyle for you, I deserved it though. I dared him to kiss this guy Sam-who was his crush- because I knew he wanted to. Unfortunately, Kyle had been eating a reese's and kissed Sam, who is allergic to peanuts. We were so lucky he had his epipen with him."

We talked more as I walked her to her back to the dorm. She was so different, enjoying life and doing crazy stupid things just so she could say she did. This may have been the best date I've gone on. Sure I don't date much; but how often will you go out with a girl and not have walk out on you cause your ex is there. And still manage to salvage the night with crazy stories. Nevertheless, all good things come to end. We reached her room and stopped in front of it.

"Well the night didn't go quite how I would have liked it but I had a great time." I grabbed her other hand and laced our fingers together.

"Me too." The smile still hadn't left her face.

"So I haven't scared you off for a second date then?"

"No, well I might not call if you don't kiss me." This girl is full of surprises.

"Well I just have to kiss you don't I?"

"There's no way out of it."

I slowly leaned down and pressed my lips to hers, closing my eyes. Her hands still clasped in mind. I could feel her smiling into the kiss, her lips had to be the softest I've ever kissed. I never wanted to stop kissing her, but she needed to breathe. Removing my lips from hers, my lips felt cold without hers on them. I open my eyes again and looked at her. There was a faint blush on her cheeks and I could hear her heart beating fast

"Goodnight Lily. try not to get into too much trouble"

"You be sure to do the same. Night"

Lily released my hands and opened the door and went inside. After she closed the door I realised I had a big smile on my face.

* * *

She saw it all. Her heart hurt, but that was from her fight with Liam. It had nothing to do with Damon and his _date_. Elena shook her head as she unlocked her door and walked in. She immediately noticed a change. Bonnie's things were all gone. Did somebody rob them? Wait, that's ridiculous, who would just steal Bonnie's thing's. That's when she heard Caroline softly crying on her bed.

"Care, what's wrong?" Elena walked towards Caroline's bed and hugged her.

"Bonnie moved out." She said tearfully.

"What? Why?"

"She said that she needed a change. That she wasn't the same person anymore."

"I don't understand."She shook her head.

"Neither do I." Caroline pulled away from Elena and wiped her tears away, turning to face her. "Let's talk about something else. How was your date with Liam?"

"Not good. We got into a fight."

"About what."

"Damon was at the party and he thought I was still in love with him."

"Damon was there?" Elena nodded "Was he with his date?"

"You knew about it?"

"No. Enzo came by to help with the packing and let it slip."

"Oh, and yeah. She was there."

"I'm going go take a shower ok." She nodded again. That girl couldn't be safe with Damon. He was evil and cruel, she had to save her.

* * *

Lily leaned back against the door with a smile on her face. She slowly brought up her hand to her mouth and smiled, her lips were still tingling.

"So I'm guessing the date went well." Lily jumped a little in the air at the sudden noise.

"Emma!" She placed her hand on her chest. "God, don't hid in the dark. You scared that crap out of me."

"Sorry, but tell me all about your date. Did you have fun?" Emma was sitting on her bed

"Yeah, it was...good."

"Oh my god, you like him." Emma got up from her bed and walked towards her.

"Well of course I like him, I just went on a date with him."

"No, I mean _really_ like him, as in-I want to date him again."

"So what if I do?" Lily bent down to remove her shoes and placed them next to her bed.

"You almost never go on second dates. And you just did the cliche hand-to-the-mouth-then-smiling thing."

"I did not." Her cheeks were tinted red. "Whose boxes are those?" Lily sat on her bed and played with the sheets.

"Don't go changing the subject." Emma pointed her finger at her with a cheeky smile. "Admit it you really like this guy."

"Well, yeah. He was fun and got me a little drunk."

"That is when you are at your best. Oh this is great. You are going to have your first boyfriend since you started university and Kyle owes me 20 bucks."

"He's not my b-Wait. Why does Kyle owe you money? Did you guys bet on when I would get a boyfriend?"

"We did it because we love you."

"You bitch." She said with a smile.

"Oh come on, I'll use the money to get something we both like. I'll buy ice cream."

"Fine, you're forgiven but Kyle is not off the hook. But seriously, whose boxes are these?"

"Oh, yeah. Well, because Megan left we had a bed available and this girl wanted to change rooms and we were the only one that wasn't full."

"Oh ok. What's her name?"

"Bonnie."


	4. Chapter 4-Welcome to Thanksgiving

The room was quiet, the only thing you could hear was the pair's synchronised breathing. His arm was wrapped around her stomach, her back against his chest; his face buried in her hair as she held on to his that was being used as a pillow for her head. The sheets covered their body from the cold air. Their clothes were placed all around the room and shoes flung to the sides.

But the quiet pair were being disturbed as a man walked into the room, observing the scene around him. He walked quietly towards the pair on the sleeping bed, stopping right infront of the sleeping girl. Lily started to wake up, feeling Damon's arm around her stomach. She was going to go back to sleep when she thought someone was watching her. She opened her eyes and saw a man standing next to the bed staring at her. Her instincts came out and she punched him in the crotch. The man cried out in agony, falling to the ground holding his crotch.

Damon woke up to a girlish scream and looked around to see what had happened. Lily was sitting up in bed, clutching the blanket to her chest; staring at the ground. Damon sat up and looked down, seeing the definition of annoying.

"Stefan, what are you doing on the ground?" Damon rubbed his eyes, too tired to deal with his brother.

"Your girlfriend punch me in the crotch." Stefan groans into the floor. This doesn't normally happen to him, what with his vampire senses but Lily caught him by surprise.

"Well peeping tom here was just watching me sleep."

"Lily, it's o-Wait, what the hell are you doing here?"

"I wanted to talk to you."

"Fine we'll talk, outside. Get out."Stefan slowly drags himself out of the room, his body still aching from the attack. He closes the door behind him, leaving them alone."Sorry about my brother, he doesn't understand the concept of privacy." Damon places his arm around Lily and kisses her shoulder, trying to get her to calm down.

"You're not mad that I hit him."

"I'm very upset, I missed my awesome girlfriend kicking my brother's ass. I will never forgive you for that."Lily laughs at Damon and wraps her arms around his neck, bringing him in for a kiss. Damon pulls away and places a kiss on her nose. "Why don't you take a shower and I'll see what Mr. Creepy wanted."

"Alright, you can join me if you want when you're done." Lily smiles at him as she climbs out of bed with the sheet still wrapped around her.

"You're killing me woman." She giggles at him and walks towards the bathroom, dropping the sheet. Damon stares at as she leaves, then manages to get out of bed and pull on his jeans.

I have been seeing Lily now for about two weeks and they have been nothing but joyful. She is constantly smiling-which makes me smile-and is willing to do stupid, crazy things with me. The more we have gone out, the more confident she is. On our first date I could tell that she was nervous, but now. She has no problem calling me out on my bullshit.

I didn't realise that Bonnie was her new roommate though. That made for a pleasant surprise when I went to pick Lily for our date last week.

_I was planning on taking Lily to the carnival, since she has never been to one before. So being the gentleman that I am, I went to go pick her up from her dorm room. I've never actually been inside before since we hadn't done _it _yet. And if we did, you don't really want two other people hearing you. _

_I knocked on the door, expecting to see Lily but instead I saw a face I never thought I would see here. "Damon, what are you doing here?"_

"_What are you doing here?" Did she know about Lily?_

"_I live here now." That's a no then._

"_I know that. I came here to see you, of course." Smooth. Real smooth, you idiot._

"_You didn't know I even lived here."_

_A lie, think of a lie."Uhh-" Oh no, Emma._

"_Oh hey Damon, Lily will be back soon. She's just taking a shower." Well, that blew my cover._

"_Thanks Emma." Bonnie pushed me out the door and shut it behind her, staring at me intently._

"_You're the one that's dating Lily. You're the reason that she's been smiling so much." Bonnie noted with a small smile on her face._

_I scoffed and rolled my eyes. "No." Way to make it obvious._

"_Damon." Well, the secret's out. No point in hiding it anymore. Actually, I could say that I'm going to eat Lily, but that doesn't bold well for me since I actually like her. So, truth it is. Stefan would be so proud of me._

"_Alright, yeah. I'm dating her."_

"_Why didn't you tell me?"_

"_It was nice, having something all to myself. Knowing that everyone else wasn't going to _

_screw it up for me."_

"_But why didn't you tell me?"_

"_We just got back from psychoville and I thought you would want more time to adjust to everything; and I, just, you know, wanted to keep this to myself." I sound like a teenager being asked about his crush. Dear God, this is what Stefan sounds like. Oh god, I'm becoming Captain Forehead._

"_I'm not mad, I just wish you told me." Not the guilt trip, uhhhh. I hate this._

"_Well, know that you know. Can you not tell anyone about this? I rather not have Caroline and my brother trying to stick their noses in. Stefan is already bugging me with his obsession with having our 'brotherly bond' return." I wonder if he had a spiritual awakening that made if rethink his need to forget his brother. The brother that died saving him and his annoying friends. And who was that brother? Oh wait, that was me(!)._

"_I promise I'll keep it a secret; but that doesn't mean that I'm going to let this go. Know that I know you're dating my _roommate_, I can tell her lots of embarrassing things about you."_

"_What things?" I don't do weird things, at least not in Bonnie's presence._

"_Things that I have heard though the grape vine, things that may not be true."_

"_Bonnie." I could hear the shower being turned off inside, Lily was done._

"_Oh, did you hear that? Lily's out of the shower." Bonnie opened the door behind her."I guess you should have told me about her sooner, huh?" Oh, I've been a bad influence on Bonnie_

"_No no no, Bonnie!" She shut the door in my face, with a wicked smirk on hers. I pressed my forehead against the door and heard Bonnie speaking to Lily quitely. I'm in trouble now._

However, there's a problem though. There have been cases where I've almost revealed my vampire self, and I've had to walk away for a while. But she never asks me why, she doesn't pressure me. I told her about the lousy relationship I had with Stefan, and she didn't even try to meddle (unlike Elena). She didn't even know why we aren't close and didn't push me to tell her. She's something different, I feel like if I told her-which I'm not because it is far too early-she wouldn't try to kill me. Actually, I've never told someone that I was a vampire, not really. They usually already know or figure it out themselves because they're nosey.

"Alright Stef, what do you want?" Stefan was waiting for me by the kitchen, he had taken one of my ice packs from the freezer and placed it between his legs. My girl got him good.

"You didn't tell me you had a girlfriend."

"I don't tell you a lot of things." 'Cause we've always been the an open family, huh? "How'd you find out?"

"Enzo let it slip a few weeks ago."

"Really? That guy can't keep a secret." Reminder: Never tell Enzo anything, unless you want everyone to find out.

"Why didn't you tell me Damon?"

"What, are you telling me you suddenly care what happens to me?" Great, this again. Him pretending to care whilst he is secretly planning to stab me in the back later. And I'm the evil one.

"Of course I care, you're my brother." Sure(!).

"Well, you're not mine. You were going to let stay in that hell hole forever."

"I didn't know-" Like that's a good reason to give up. This isn't Buffy.

"I died for you, for the town. And what's the thanks I get? You move to another town to forget about me. Way to show the love, brother." I wonder if he had a hard time picking a place to run away, like a child.

"Look, I didn't come here to argue. Caroline heard about Lily and wants to meet her, tonight

for Thanksgiving"

'Really, well you can tell her she's not gonna." I knew this was gonna happen. They find out about Lily and they jump at the chance to roast her.

"Why not? We deserve to know her."

"You don't deserve anything. So, messenger boy, tell Barbie she's not meeting her."

"Caroline and I, aren't on good terms right now."

"Why? What'd you do?" How did prince charming hurt the princess? Did she found out that he's the most...boring person ever.

"I found out that she has feelings for me and I don't feel the same."

"You're just realising that now?" Aw, he didn't know that she wanted him to be the Ken to her Barbie.

"You knew?"

"How could I not? It was so obvious. I was dead for three months and I knew." Stefan was always described as romantic, yet he could not spot the most obvious cliche romance brewing.

"Whatever, just come to the dinner." Hiding your feelings won't solve the problem.

"Fine, but only because I want to see Caroline make a fool out of you."

"I'm not not invited for….Friends-giving."

"That's the name she came up with? That's horrible." Caroline you are letting me down. "Anyway, tell Caroline I'm not coming unless you are. I want to get something out of this dinner."

"You are, you're going to find out if she's crazy or not."

"You couldn't even tell with Elena. Now, I have a sexy naked girl in my shower so, let yourself out. And please, throw out the ice pack."

* * *

"Hey Bonnie." I was sitting on my bed, studying some of the notes when Lily came through the door in last night's clothes.

After the past few weeks, I had gotten closer with my roommates, especially Lily. Even though I was new to the group, Lily tried her hardest to make her feel welcome. Taking me out to eat or staying up late at night, watching bad movies and making random comments about them.

After learning that she and Damon were dating, I admit that I was a bit weary of the idea; but after seeing how happy Lily would be after each date made all my worries disappear. I knew that Damon had a romantic side, but I never really saw it. In fact, when he and Elena were together they mostly spent it in his bed. But with Lily, he seemed to enjoy just talking to her. I had caught them at the college bar a few times, just talking and the occasional kiss. It was sweet, so sweet that I was a little jealous. Not that I want to be with Damon, I just miss being in the honeymoon stage in a relationship. I could always go back to Jeremy, but after what he did when I was gone; I wasn't sure I could ever look at him the same way again. Sure I was dead, but did that mean he had to do anything in a skirt? They were in love and when I died, the first thing he did was sleep with someone. Great, that's love.

I didn't expect him to be celibate or anything, just long enough for her to decompose a little. Was that too much to ask for? Damon had told me about his first few-well fifty years as a vampire. How he waited for Katherine but didn't sleep with anyone. How he felt like he was cheating on her. He waited 50 years and Jeremy couldn't wait one summer. However, this was a new year for me. I have my life, my friends, everything was going to be ok.

Although Elena and Caroline haven't met Lily and Emma yet. It was really hard to keep Caroline away from my new roommates. I knew as soon as Caroline found out that Damon was dating Lily, she was going to scare her away. But I couldn't let that happen, not after seeing how happy they made each other. So I had to constantly make excuses as to why they couldn't meet yet or telling her Lily's name. After Damon and Lily's first date, Elena would not stop talking about Lily, and how she put out on the first date. Which I obviously knew that wasn't true since Lily was with me the rest of the night, helping me unpack. It was obvious to me that Elena was jealous, but I couldn't understand why. The compulsion that Alaric did got rid of any lovey dovey feelings she had for Damon.

"Hey, so did Damon tell you about dinner tonight?" I was informed by Caroline that Damon's girlfriend was coming to Thanksgiving tonight. This means that Caroline and Elena will realise that I have been lying about not knowing who Damon's girlfriend is. Which also means that I'm in for a scolding.

"Yeah, he did. So I'm assuming that they are going to interrogate me, huh?" Lily placed her bag next to her bed and proceeded to take off her shoes.

"Well, not all of them." Definitely Caroline.

"It's fine, I get it. They want to make sure that I'm not going to go crazy and burn all his

things or something."

"Something like that." It's not like they want you to come so that they can see if you're a witch or some supernatural creature. That would be ridiculous."Did you see my bear when you were at Damon's?"

"Ms. Cuddles? Why would Damon have it?"

"I may have said something about his new place that he didn't like."

"Is there anything I should know for the dinner?"She laughed as she got up from her bed and to her dresser; most likely looking for a outfit to wear for tonight.

"Well, Elena will be there, and Damon use to sleep with Caroline. Who will be leading the interrogation."

"Ah, she regrets her discussion of sleep with Damon and wants to warn me off." Wow, that was surprisingly accurate. Lily saw the look of astonishment on my face and apologised. "Sorry, I've been analysing everyone I meet to practice for a test I have coming up."

"It's fine, I think it's pretty cool." We could have used her skill when we were up against Klaus or Katherine or you know, all of them.

"Thanks, will you help pick what to wear. I know Damon doesn't really care about their approval, but I would like it if they liked me." Lily pulled out a white dress from her drawer.

"You'll be fine. Sure they'll question your taste in men but, that will be it." Lily holds the dress up to her and faces the small mirror on top of her dresser.

"Ok, I can handle that. What do you think about this?"

* * *

Damon, Alaric and Stefan were standing in the hall waiting for Caroline to finish setting up the dinner table. As the waited, they quietly conversed between themselves. Then Stefan noticed the teddy bear that Damon had.

Stefan interrupted Damon's conversation with Alaric. "Why do you have a bear?"

"Oh, Bonnie made fun of the fact that I no longer have my amazing bathroom, so I took Ms. Cuddles as hostage."

"That's mature. So where's your girlfriend?"Alaric asked.

"She's coming with Bonnie."

"Why is she coming with Bonnie?" Stefan asked

"Oh, you didn't know. They're when they come you will see that she is normal."

"Just because we don't see anything doesn't mean it doesn't exist." Stefan mused.

"Not unlike Caroline's feelings for Stefan." Alaric interjected, smirking at the look on Stefan's face.

"Hilarious. Keep them coming."

EDamon held Ms. Cuddles next to his face and used a high-pitched voice, moving the bear's arms around."Oh, no. Is Stefan feeling sensitive about ruining his friendship with Caroline? She really liked him, and he broke her heart."

"See, Stefan? Even the bear knew." Alaric said, struggling to keep a straight face.

"I saw that from a mile away, and my brain's made of _cotton_." He moved closer to Stefan and made Ms. Cuddles arms move like she was punching him.

"Give me this." Stefan takes Ms. Cuddles and is about to throw her, when Bonnie calls out his name.

"Stefan, give me back Ms. Cuddles." Bonnie came through the door and stormed towards Stefan, Lily was outside parking her car.

"Sorry Bonnie."

"Bonnie, nice to see you here." Damon said, smirking slightly.

"Hi Damon, where are your keys?" Bonnie had a thoughtful expression on her face and put her finger to her chin as if she was thinking.

"Bonnie." Damon starts going through his pockets and patting his body down. He had only just gotten his precious car back from Stefan a week ago and was still reluctant to let anyone drive it. "Bonnie!"

Bonnie skipped away as Damon stared at her retreating form. He was about to go after her when he heard the door open. Lily came inside, wearing a white knee length dress with a jean jacket. Bonnie had told her that dressing casual and stylish was the best way to get Caroline on her good side.

"Hey, Damon." Lily came up to Damon and smiled at the others.

"Hey. Lily this is Alaric, but you already know him." Damon wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her next to him.

"She does?" Alaric questioned.

"I'm one of your students." She smiled softly at her professor, not surprised that he didn't remember her.

"Yes…"

"It's ok if you don't remember me, you teach a lot people."

"Well, it's nice to see you out of class."

"And you remember my brother."

"Yes, hello Creep."

"Yeah, I'm sorry about that." Stefan looked guiltily at the ground, ashamed that their first meeting was unpleasant at best.

"It's fine, but if does happen again I will be forced to be more aggressive."

"Fair enough."

"If you could excuse us, other people are just _dying_ to meet her." Damon went to stand behind Lily, placing his hands on her shoulders.

The pair walked away from the group, in search of others that would undoubtedly want to speak to Lily.

"Why did she call you Creep?" inquired Alaric.

"I came in when they were sleeping and, kinda, stared at them."

"Stefan, I know you're having a hard time with Caroline. But that doesn't mean that you can stare at people when they're naked." Alaric commented.

"You're not going to let this go are you?"

"Would you? My, my this is going to be entertaining!" Alaric slapped Stefan on the back and walked merrily to the dining room, laughing quietly to himself.

* * *

After the pair left the others, Damon went in search of Bonnie so that he could retrieve his keys back from Bonnie; leaving Lily alone. Elena came into the room with a bowl full of salad when she saw Lily.

"Lily, right?" Elena placed the salad bowl on the table and turned to face Lily.

"Yeah, it's nice to see you again." Lily stood in the front of the room, with her hands in her pockets.

"You too." She put her hands in her back pocket awkwardly. What were you supposed to say to the girl that's dating your ex? "Look, I don't want to intrude or anything but, I wanted to warn you. About Damon. He can be dangerous at time. And I just wanted you to know."

"Dangerous how?" She stared at Elena, intrigued about what she had to say.

"He's just, not the kind of person that you want to have a normal life with. You know, children and families, they aren't really what Damon wants." Elena hoped that this would be enough to scare her away from Damon. He would only end up hurting her in the end. She had to do this, it was the girl code.

"Well I guess that's a good thing. I don't want those either." She shrugged.

That did not go like she thought it would. "You don't? Why not?" This girl was strange, Elena wanted nothing more than having the white picket fence with a perfect family.

"I guess I just don't want what everybody else has. I'm sure this is what you want but, I'm not you so…."

"Look, I was just warning you, ok." Lily was being really rude about Elena trying to warn her about the danger she is putting herself in just by dating Damon.

"You weren't warning me. You wanted to scare me away so that I would break up with Damon and you can have him back." Lily stated calmly.

"You're crazy. I have a boyfriend, Liam." Who was perfect, and nice and….normal.

"I can see that but you know what they say 'We crave for what we can't have'. And I'm probably coming off as a real bitch right now-which is intentional by the way-because I don't think it's right to play with someone's emotion and expect everything to be ok." Who was she to judge her? She didn't know what happened. She didn't know how hard it was to be in the crossfire of the brothers. Who was she to come here on her high horse and criticize her.

"You don't know anything about what happened with me and Damon." Elena's voice shook with anger.

"Firstly, it's Damon and I. Secondly, he told me about what happened."

"You don't even know the whole story."

"So are you saying that you didn't date Damon's brother and use Damon to get what you want. Then when you started to have feelings for him you lead him on and went back to his brother."

"That's taken out of context-"

"But it still happened."

"Yeah-" Forget it. There was no point in arguing with that girl. She was far too stubborn and had clearly chosen the wrong side. Damon was probably still bitter about her not loving him and wanted some to be on his side. Even though he believed that his infatuation was because of Katherine, she was sure there was a part of him that still cared for her. Seeing as Lily wouldn't budge, Elena decided to walk away."I'm going to get the rest of the food."

"Running from your problems won't help."

Before Elena could say a response, Damon came back in the room, swinging his keys around his finger. He walked straight to Lily and kissed her cheek."Lily, there you are." Damon wrapped his arms around Lily's waist from behind and laid his head on her shoulder.

"Sorry, I was just talking to Elena." He looked up from her shoulder and finally notice Elena standing there. She was fuming silently, unknown as to why the sight before her made her so enraged.

"Mmm, so Elena. How's life?" Damon spoke to her with indifference, which shocked her. He has spoken to her angrily, happily all of the possible ways. But he has never, ever, spoken to her like he didn't care about her. Even with her changed memories, Damon always caring about her didn't change. However, this Damon wanted nothing to do with her.

"Fine. I need to go check on the food, excuse me." Elena rushed out of the dining room and into the kitchen, barely able to stop herself from snapping the girls pretty neck.

"Ok, did you do something?" Damon watched Elena partially run away from them, he looked at his smiling girlfriend curiously.

"Possibly."

"Lily, stop doing these things, without me there. I want to see my girl go crazy." He turned Lily around so that she was facing him, his arms still around her tightly.

"I promise next time I do something crazy you are present or film it." Lily placed her hands on Damon's shoulders.

"That's all I ask."Damon leaned down to kiss her, but was interrupted by a blonde on a mission coming up to them.

"Hi, you must be Lily. I'm Caroline." Lily removed herself from Damon's grasp and turned to look at the blonde. Caroline stuck her hand out which Lily gladly took to shake.

"Yeah, it nice to meet you Caroline. I've heard so much about you"

"Well, we have heard nothing about you, so why don't we change that."

"Well, what would you like to know?"

"Let's see. Age, place of origin, family, mental health and major."

"Slow down Blondie. This isn't an interrogation." Damon settled his arm around Lily's shoulders.

"It's ok Damon, I'm happy to cooperate with this...interrogation."

"Good, so tell us."

"Well, I'm 20 years old, I'm from New York. My mental health is fine and I'm planning on becoming a psychologist."

"Ok." Caroline looked thoughtful for a moment then spoke again."Do you have any STDs?"

"Alright that's it, conversation over. Let's have dinner." Caroline looked like she was going to protest but stopped when she saw the look on Damon's face and thought better of it.

* * *

Elena walked into the kitchen after her strange conversation with Lily. What did she know about her, acting like she knew everything about her. And judging her relationship with Liam, they were fine. In fact she was planning on telling Liam what she was, she just had to find the right moment. Her wanting to tell Liam that she was a vampire was showing how confident she was in their relationship. She wouldn't do that if she was 'insecure' about them. Would she? No, this was the right choice.

The young vampire saw Stefan adding a few extra ingredients to some of the dishes that Caroline had prepared.

"So, what are you doing?"

"Well, if I want to get back in Caroline's good graces, I need to impress her with her my amazing cooking skills."

"And out shine Caroline's cooking skills?" Elena hinted.

"Right, I did not think about that." Stefan stopped adding food to the dishes and grabbed a washcloth to clean his hands.

"Well everyone's here. We're just waiting on Jo and Luke." Elena pointed back to the dining room. Enzo was suppose to come but Caroline said that there wasn't enough space, especially since Stefan had joined the dinner. Caroline had spent over an hour rearranging the sitting order so that everyone could fit.

"So just to be clear, Jo was invited to Friends-giving, but I wasn't." Stefan mused.

"Friend code states that in matters such as yours and Caroline's I must, without exception, take the side of my best friend."

"Huh."

"Can you two just kiss and makeup? It's getting weird."

"You're just mad cause Caroline's making you do all the work."

Elena laughed at Stefan's sad attempt of making a joke and sees Liam going towards the table. "Stefan, how did you know that you could trust me?"Is she really ready to reveal her biggest secret to Luke? Would he scream and run away or accept her for who she is?

"Trust you with what?"

"When you were honest with me about what you were. How did you know that you could trust me with such a huge secret?"

"That's easy. I was in love with you. I wanted you to know everything." Elena stares at Stefan sadly, reminiscing about their past relationship. "We better get the food out of here before it cools and Caroline kills us."

Elena looked at Liam thoughtfully; he looked back and they smiled at each other. Could she?

* * *

Once all the food was out of the kitchen, Caroline had gathered everyone into the dining room. Each seat had a card with everyone's name on it. Caroline and Bonnie were at the head of the table. One side was to have; Joe, Alaric, Stefan, Damon and Lily sitting together. Liv, Luke, Tyler, Liam and Elena would sit on the other side.

"All right! If everyone could gather around the table at their assigned seats, then, um…." Caroline called out, only to be delayed by a annoying late comer.

"Oh. Sorry I'm late." Luke walked in and sat down next to his sister.

"We will each share something that we are thankful for in 100 words or less, so…"Caroline went on as if she was never interrupted

Lily's phone started to ring from her jacket pocket. As she took it out, her face paled at the name on caller id. "I'm sorry I have to take this."

"Can't you get it after dinner?" Caroline protested, desperate to contain order in her first Thanksgiving dinner.

"No, I really can't, sorry." Lily mutters another apology as she quickly gets up from the table, leaving the room as Damon watches her; curious as to who was on the phone.

"Oh. You know what? Now would actually be an excellent time just to shut down anything with an on-off button." Luke chooses to ignore her and plays a video on his phone as Tyler and Liv watch from behind him."No. Please let the food get cold. Whatever that is is far more important(!)."

On the video, a woman's voice talks to two children:

"_Happy Birthday! Wave to me!"_

_"Hi, Josie." Two children respond to the woman and speak in time with one another._

_"How old are you?"_

_"Four."_

"_How do you add that? You guys want to do some numbers? OK. What's one plus one?"_

_"Two!"_

_"Two plus two?"_

_"Four!"_

_"Nice."_

Jo enters the room the room and looks suspiciously at the group of people around the phone. "What are you watching?"

"I'm not sure but that kind of sounds like your voice." Elena commented.

"That is my voice. I took that video 18 years ago at a birthday party for the twins." Joe revealed, slowly putting it together.

"Oh, my God." Liv gasped.

"Lucas and Olivia?" _How could she not see it? They still look like they did 18 years ago._

"Jo as in Josette?" _Could it really be her? _Luke wondered.

Caroline, along with everyone else are confused as to why they were saying each other's names. "Hang on. You guys know each other?"

Jo started to tear up as she looked at them."I'm their sister."

* * *

"So if you don't know each other, then how did you all just happen to end up at the same tiny liberal arts school?" Wow, Caroline asked a good question, I should check for flying pigs.

"We had a family friend here... Sheila Bennett." Why is it that Bennett witches are involved in every fucking god damn spell. Aren't there other witches?

"You knew my grams?"Bonnie whispers.

"She took me under her wing. She also helped my family put Kai away." recalls Joe.

"Kai? As it murder happy psycho stuck in 1994?" Wonderful, that dick managed to piss off an entire family of witches.

"As in our brother, my twin." Great, isn't being crazy genetic? Alaric sure knows how to pick'em(!) If she starts munching on pork rinds, I have no choice but to kill her.

"There are two sets of twins in your family?" Caroline wondered.

"Yeah, there were until my coven put Kai in a prison world." Luke notified.

"Now there's just Luke and I."

Dr. Junior stood up quite dramatically-I must say-with pale face and shaking hands. Why is he still here? Does he realise no one wants him here."I'm sorry. Did you say coven?" Oh great, now he's going to wet his pants and call Mummy.

"Oh, my God. Liam... is still _here_." Really Elena? Thank you for pointing that out, it's not like we have eye and ears or anything(!).

"I think he meant 'oven'." How does that change anything, Tyler? In fact it makes it worse because if he said 'oven' that means he said 'Yeah, there were until my _oven_ put Kai in a prison world.' I think the part we should be hiding in the _prison world_. Idiot.

"Yeah." Thank you Elena, for being completely useless and unable to explain to _your_ boyfriend what's going on.

"Hey Grey's Anatomy, go stand in the hall." Oh, how I do love compelling people.

"I'm gonna go check on Lily. She's been out there for a while now." Bonnie gets up from the table and walks outside. I hope Lily's ok, I'll go check on her later.

* * *

Bonnie was thankful to be out of that room, memories of Kai and her Grams was flooding her mind. The witch saw Lily leaning against the building with her eyes closed; her phone was clutched in her hand so tightly that her knuckles have turned white. However she was more considered about the tears on her face.

"Lily?" She opened her eyes when she heard her name being called; and looked towards the voice, seeing Bonnie coming towards her.

"Hey," Lily quickly wiped away her tears, in a feeble attempt of hiding her tears. "What are doing here?"

"What's wrong?" Bonnie quizzed.

"Nothing." She tried to smile, but it came out as a grimace.

"Come on Lily, you can trust me."

She knew she could lie, she's done it so many times before. Emma didn't even know and she's known her for two years. But she could trust Bonnie, Lily knew that. It would be ok to tell someone a part of her secret. Then she wouldn't have to carry the burden all by herself anymore. "I just got a call from the attorney general's office. Someone I know might be getting out of prison on 'good behaviour'."

"That's great." Unfortunately Bonnie was still confused, those tears didn't look like happy ones.

"No, it really isn't." She shook her head

"What do you mean?"

"I'm the one who put him there Bonnie. If gets out, he's gonna come for me." Lily looked fearful at Bonnie, her body tensed at the thought of him escaping.

"What did he do?"

"I'm sorry Bonnie, but I can't tell you. I want to I really do. And it's not about trust or anything. I'm just not ready to talk about it."

"It's alright. I understand."

"Please don't tell Damon. I really like him, and I don't want him to-" Lily pleaded, her eyes started to fill up with tears as she thought about Damon. _What would he think of her? Would he ever want to speak to her again if he new the truth?_

"It's alright, I get it. I promise I won't tell." Lily smiled at Bonnie thankfully and pulls her into a hug. When Lily had calmed down enough, she talks to her about pointless things to take her mind off her the phone call.

They still couldn't go inside because of Jo and her family, and Bonnie didn't want to think about that monster anymore. So they just talked outside until Bonnie thought they were done inside.

"Kai killed 4 of our brothers and sisters to make a point, but he was really targeting Lucas and Olivia." Joe explained, unable to tear her eyes away from her siblings.

"Why them?" Let them finish the story you overgrown dog. Oh wait, he's not a hybrid or a werewolf anymore is he? He's just an athlete with anger problems, because we have so few of those in the world.

"Because in our coven, twins are in line to be leaders." What happens if you get triplets then?

"Hence our lame-ass name... Gemini." No, a real lame-ass name would be….Pufpaff. That is without a doubt, thee worst last name ever.

"Kai wanted to be the leader, but that wasn't possible if Lucas and Olivia were alive." Wow, he just got the worst brother of the year award.

"He was a psychopath, so they sent him away. Kai went to his prison, Jo dodged bullet, and now the leadership falls on us." Liv clarified for those who are slow-Tyler.

"OK. Well, now that we've all gotten to know each other a little bit better, could someone please pass the dinner rolls?"

"Caroline, forget about the damn dinner, it can't be saved. We should be focusing on the fact that the ex-witch has a literal evil twin." I groaned.

"Hey , that's my girlfriend you're talking about." Oh Alaric, you silly boy,

"Girlfriend? You've been on, like, 3 dates." I think you qualify someone as your girlfriend after, you well, ask them.

"Nice, Damon. We could say the same for you, you know." You had to go there didn't you Stefan.

"There are two flaws in your theory. One, my girlfriend doesn't have a crazy person in the family that tried to kill me and Bonnie. _Repeatedly_. And secondly, we are talking about Alaric," I turn to face him "your choice in women doesn't bold well for you." Sure mine don't look good as well, but….I'm choosing to ignore that.

"Stop being such a asshole Damon." Sorry Stefan, but you've left me with no choice.

"That's it, go to the corner." I pointed to the wall outside the dining room.

"What? Damon I'm-"

"Corner or I tell everyone about what happened in 1947." That's a good boy, Stefan. He huffed and got up from the table, muttering under his breath saying 'I was tricked'. Well Steffy, that's what happens when you drink too much. It's not my fault you decided to strip off all your clothes whilst singing the national anthem.

"Why can't we just have a nice dinner without any drama?"

"Sorry that my family drama isn't appropriate dinner conversation, Caroline." Ooo, the teenage witch can bite.

"That's not what I meant. It's—"

"Liv—" Does the dog have a thing for the witch? Wasn't there a show that did that?

"Just... Leave me alone." Uh oh, teenage drama. Must make dramatic exit by storming out.

"OK. I think I may have missed something. If you and Liv can both be the leaders of your coven, why did she just get so upset?" Oh, my god, how is it that even when you're asking a question it must be all about you, doesn't it Elena.

"Because there aren't two leaders, are there, Jo?" Why? If they just had two leaders then Kai wouldn't feel like killing his family and we won't be involved anymore. I can't even remember what it was like to not be involved in some supernatural family crap.

"In our coven's tradition," Well anything that comes out after that is not good. There are no witch traditions that are good. "after their 22nd birthday, the twins merge their strength. The stronger one wins, absorbing their twin's power, and the weaker of the two…"See, what did I tell you.

"The weaker of the two what?" Worried about your girlfriend, huh? Definitely has a thing for her. The wolf and the witch, I've seen that somewhere before.

"The weaker one dies." Luke storms away after that, where I don't know. This isn't a damn coven, it's a fucking witch cult. What the fuck did I get into? Thank you Joe for coming here and bringing this to us so that we will inevitably have to help you save your family; because that's what always happens.

Caroline and Tyler leave soon after, probably going to find Sabrina the teenage witch before she throws a tantrum that ends up killing everyone.

"Ok, here's my question. If you're crazy dad is so obsessed with making sure Kai doesn't get out. How can he tell if he's still there?" Surely he didn't believe that palace was that secure, I mean, _I_ got out.

"When they placed the spell my father had added something to it. Like a trip wire, if Kai was to be released, it would alert my father."

"How long would it take? Cause I'm thinking, Bonnie and I just got out of crazy land. What if he thinks Kai is out."

"Then my father would try and find a way to stop him."

"Kai can't become leader unless he merges with you before the wonder twins here do. So, if I was your a insane coven leader, about to die and pass on the hypothetical torch off. I want to give it to the person who didn't kill half my family. Meaning, the only way to ensure that Kai doesn't become leader, I would have to kill my daughter." Not the best way to do it, but it seems the most logical for an insane cult-sorry coven leader.

"He wouldn't do that."

"Don't be too sure, Alaric. Damon's right. In fact, I think my dad...my dad's trying to kill me." Told you. Jo suddenly collapses off the chair and to the ground.

"Jo? Are you OK?" No, she isn't Elena. Haven't we already establish that she's getting killed by her father?

"Jo?"Alaric gets off his chair and kneel on the ground next to Jo, cradling her head as she groans in pain.

"What the hell is she talking about? Her dad's trying to kill her?" Well she's not killing herself(!) Who let you back in? Didn't I tell you to stay in the hall? He's going to be a horrible doctor if he can't handle blood.

"Not the time lover boy." Jo starts coughing up blood. I got up from my seat and went to the hall, yelling out Bonnie's name. She dashed out from outside and into the hall, Lily was still outside from what I could tell.

"What's wrong?"

"Jo's dad is trying to kill her." With that we hurried back into the dining room, observing the scene before us. Joe's laceration was oozing out more blood, the napkins that Elena used to try and stop the blood weren't working. I moved towards the table and grabbed a cloth, dipping it in cold water. Then giving it to Alaric to place on Joe's head.

Bonnie kneeled down next to Joe, looking at the wound that had formed and ordered her. "Jo, Jo. I need you to lie on your back ok. Good."

"Elena, we have to do something. Definite signs of hemoptysis."

"Shut up, Liam." No wonder Ric likes her.

"Hey, get the wannabe out of here." Really Elena? You chose not to listen to me?

Bonnie places her hands on the wound and starts chanting….something. "Elementum recolligo Huic commodo locus mihi vestri vox. Elementum ego unda dico vos. Permissum Pluit es est meus nos sic vadum is exsisto"

"What is she doing?" God, just please, for the love of god. _Shut up!_

"Elena, what did I just say?"

"I'm not gonna leave her." Well if you don't you're annoying boyfriend will distract Bonnie and she will die.

"Either he leaves or he keeps his damn mouth shut." Go Alaric, I knew you had it in you. Although I'm more grateful that Liam decided to listen to reason and leave.

"Ok, I stopped the spell but I can't stop the bleeding."

"That's where we come in." Why? We just got rid of you and your annoying voice. Liam had gathered ice in a towel and placed it on Jo's wound."You need to tell me what's going on."

"Not the time lover boy, if you can't tell, your mentor is _bleeding out" _I turn to Bonnie and remember that Lily is just outside."Bonnie, make sure Lily doesn't see this." She nods and goes back outside where Lily is, no doubt wondering what's going on.

"You have to get more ice." Yes, that is a good distraction for McWhinney over there.

"I'm not an idiot, Elena. I know you're lying to me, so whatever it is, just tell me, please."

"She's crashing!" Alaric, give her your blood!

"Dr. Laughlin, look at me."

"Jo, can you hear me? Jo!" Her eyes just rolled to the back of her head, Elena. I don't think she can do anything right now.

"Let me help her Elena!" God dammit Elena, let Alaric help her. "Elena, I'm sorry. But I'm not letting her die." Alaric morphs into his vampire self and bites his wrist, then feeding it to Jo.

"Oh my god, your face."

"It's OK. His blood will heal her." Elena told Liam

"But I don't…."

"That's it, your time to play hero is over. Let's go" I can't believe that I've had to resort to dragging this dumbass kid out of here. Oh god, Lily.

* * *

Once I was sure that Joe be alright, I went in search of Lily. I wasn't sure if she was going to be mad about me practically abandoning her tonight. I just hope Caroline didn't find her and ask her more questions. '_Do you have an STD?'_, who would ask that to someone else's girlfriend?

I found Lily sitting on the staircase with an expression I could not place, Bonnie was next to her but got up and left when she saw me. When Lily finally looked up she simpered a little and patted the seat next to her.

"Well, I think it's fair to say that this dinner didn't go like everyone hoped it would." I commented as I sat down next to her.

"Yeah, I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault."

"It is. I was invited as a guest by your friends, then I'm mean to your ex because she's pretty and I'm insecure. I sit down for what? 5 seconds before I leave and don't come back into the room and I didn't even try any of the food that Caroline made; which she spent all day making. I'm just the worst." She groaned, dropping her head in her hands.

"Hey, you are not the worst. You wanna know what happened after you left?" She looked up from her hands and turned to face me "Joe told everyone that she was the wonder twins sister. Liv ran out, along with Luke after Caroline said something about drama. Which then lead her and Tyler to leave to find her. My brother was being a pain in the ass so I had no other choice but to send him to the corner, and he's still there. So,even if you stayed, everything still would have happened." I recounted, just leaving out the supernatural bits.

"Is it wrong that I'm happy that everything fell apart, 'cause that means it's not my fault?" I situated my arm around her waist and pulled her into me.

"No, that makes you pretty cool." She laughed and hid her face in my chest.

"I want to give you something." I pulled out a small box from my pocket, it was something I was saving for later but, now seemed like the right time.

"Are you saying that every time I freak out you'll buy me something pretty?" she joked as she propped her chin on my chest.

"Maybe, here." I opened the box and inside was the necklace. It a silver oval necklace with vervain pressed in glass in the middle.

"Oh, it so beautiful."

"Pretty necklace for a pretty girl."I placed the necklace in her hands and smiled down at her blushing face.

"Damon this is so thoughtful of you. Does this mean we're going steady now?" She wiggled her eyebrows teasingly at me as she played with the necklace.

"Unfortunately."

"Damn, now I have to cancel that orgy I planned." She quipped smiling at me.

"Do you like it?"

"I love it, put it on for me?" She held the necklace out to me and turned around, moving her hair out of the way. I reached out and clasped the necklace together. When she turned around the necklace was settled just above her chest. Lily looked down at the necklace and beamed. Her arms came around my neck and pulled me in for a passionate kiss.

When she finally pulled away to breathe, she was still smiling at me."Do you want me to drop you off at your place?" I got up from my seat on the stairs and pulled her up with me.

"Nah, you go home first. I need to make a quick stop at my teacher's office anyway."

"You sure?"

"I'm sure, I'll see you tomorrow ok?"

"Alright. Bye."

"Bye." I placed one last kiss on her lips before watching her walk away. I'm forgetting something….Stefan!

* * *

Joe was still recovering from the near death experience she had, her body was weak but Alaric continued to hold her close to him, wiping away the sweat from her face. She saw the worried look on his face and whispered "I'm ok."

"I'll get you some water." Elena got up and walked away, ashamed that she almost let her die just to keep her secret.

Liam, was nervously pacing in the hall where Damon put him, still hardly believing what he's seen. He saw Elena coming to the hall and grabbed her arm "Elena. Elena, stop! What happened in there? How did he do that?!" he spluttered.

_Now or never _"I'm a vampire." she proclaimed

"You're what?" the young doctor mused.

"It doesn't matter, because as much as I like you, my life is complicated enough." She looked at him sadly as she compelled him."So you're not gonna remember anything from tonight or the fact that we even dated at all. You're gonna go home, get some rest, and I'll see you at work on Monday."

Liam's face went blank, then a small smile came on his face as he said his goodbye to elena, not processing the remorseful look on her face."I'll see you Monday, Elena."

* * *

Lily left still looking delighted, but she still felt guilty for not telling him about the phone call. It shouldn't be so hard, she told Bonnie. Maybe she was just scared that if she told him about the call, she'd end up telling him everything. Lily wanted to tell him everything about her past, she knew he wouldn't judge her. But, what if he did? What if she lost him? She couldn't lose anyone else in her life. No, she couldn't tell him, not yet, when she was re-

Lily stopped walking as she felt something on her neck, it was sharp. I needle? No, it was a dart. Lily pulled out the dart from her neck and stared at it. Why would someone….? Whatever was in the dart was making her dizzy, she was striving to stand. She had to get to shelter, get help. She tried to call out but another dart hit her in her shoulder this time. Everything started to spin, unable to control her legs, she collapsed to the ground, eyes struggled to stay open as a silhouette of a man came towards her. Lily tried to move away but her body felt like marble, losing all control of her muscles she had no choice but to fall victim to the toxin.


End file.
